Surveyman's NUVO 10 Build - REBOOT 2019

[Weetabix7]

2 hours ago, SURVEYMAN46123 said:

My girls and I attended our first frag swap this afternoon.  Unfortunately I'm not feeling too well so we only stayed about 45 minutes.  As much as I love this hobby, I would have preferred to stay in bed today.  

 

However we did come home with plenty of frags and I let my daughter choose most of the frags.  Even the free frag of zoa's on an old shell. 

 

We picked up, dipped and added the frags to our tank.  Now time to sit back and watch things grow out.  Some probably won't do great right away under the current light but there is an upgrade coming in the next month.  

 

1 Rainbow Monti

1 Sunset Tyree Monti

1 Bi-color Hammer (2 Heads)

1 Yellow Ginoporia 

1 Torch Coral (2 Heads)

1 Kryptonite Trumpet

1 Red Acan (5 heads)

1 Bright Pink Zoa (5-6 polyps)

1 Unknown Zoa (8-9 Polyps)

1 Ricordea Florida Mushroom

1 Rock Flower Anenome

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry that you are feeling so bad, hope it improves for you soon, but I am SO jealous that you got to go to that Frag Swap!!!

Looks like you got some good stuff. 

Go rest up and feel better, and post pics when you and the frags are more settled. 

[teenyreef]

Your girls did a great job taking care of business while you were feeling bad! Get better soon

[SURVEYMAN46123]

Moved the Montis to the sandbed and going to glue them somewhere midway on the rocks.   I'm questioning this purchase as my light is a bit on the weak side.   

 

The trumpets haven't been as puffed up as usual today so I'm not sure what is going on with them.  Most of them are puffed up but the mid section isn't.  Should I be concerned with them?

 

Also I'm a bit concerned with my torch but I think it's just lighting.  The mouths are still a bright green but the tenticales have faded a bit and the tips have almost turned white.   It's extended quite a bit and seems to be happy but not as colorful. Attributing that to the light but wondering if it's something else.  

 

The acans, Ricordea, and hammer seem to be doing great.  Same with the Goni.   Maybe I'm being a bit too pessimistic about my tank.  I just want things to be healthy and happy.   

 

 

 

 

[gone_PHiSHin]

to be honest everything looks pretty healthy to me.  but, I would really look into getting yourself a better light in the future.  things will definitely color up with a bit more PAR on those corals.  those sps will need it eventually.

 

it can be hard to get a read on corals just from a picture but all in all looking good!

[SURVEYMAN46123]

Starting to feel better and decided to remove the zoa's from the plugs and attached them to the rocks.  They are a bit ticked off so no new pics as of now.  I did notice that my Salinity has dropped significantly from .025 to .022 which has me concerned.  Everything seems happy so I'm not sure what is going on.  How would you suggest raising my salinity?   A 2 gallon WC with .028 water salinity?

 

Anyway here is a vid from last night before the lights went out.  

 

 

 

[Weetabix7]

Those Acans and Candycanes are super happy!!!

 

Did you doublecheck salinity? What are you measuring it with?

 

You could do the water change as you said above or you could use SW for your topoff water instead of FW. 

Or both.

[SURVEYMAN46123]

Unfortunately I'm using a cheap hydrometer as my 2 year old broke my refractometer by throwing it onto the garage floor Saturday morning.  I have a new on arriving this week.  So I'll just wait until it shows up.  

 

Everything looks happy so maybe I should just leave everything alone.  My ATO has been acting up either pumping in too much fresh water or none at all.  :/

 

 

[Weetabix7]

Hmm, mebbe you should top off manually til you can get that taken care of. 

[gone_PHiSHin]

what kind of ATO do you have?  do you need to clean the sensor/float valve?

 

i would raise the salinity slowly, not all at once.  but, your hydrometer could be giving you a false reading so I don't know if I'd act on that without knowing for sure how far it's off

 

I will comment that the torch seems to be in a little too much flow from my experience.

[SURVEYMAN46123]

17 minutes ago, gone_PHiSHin said:

what kind of ATO do you have?  do you need to clean the sensor/float valve?

 

i would raise the salinity slowly, not all at once.  but, your hydrometer could be giving you a false reading so I don't know if I'd act on that without knowing for sure how far it's off

 

I will comment that the torch seems to be in a little too much flow from my experience.

 

You think?  Hmm the big rock with the zoa's was moved to that side of the tank I placed it on top oh that rock this afternoon.  The flow was about the same in that position and it seemed happy but I can see your concern.  

 

As for the ATO it's the Tunze Nano.  I haven't had any issues until this week.  I plan to dip the sensor in some vinegar tonight as the lights are out now.  Earlier I unplugged the unit and checked all the connections and checked the tubing for any leaks or blockages.  Then held the sensor and return tubing out of the tank into a bucket and plugged it back in.  It worked fine.  I'll keep an eye on it, and if it keeps acting up I'll spring for a smart micro ATO.  

 

As for salinity I'm going to see what it reads tomorrow evening.  My email says the shipment is to arrive tomorrow.  So we will see what it says then.  Until then everything seems happy.  The zoa's are opening back up after removing them from the disks and gluing them to the rock.  So that's a good sign.  The Gramma is eating great, the acans are some mysis last night, and everything else seems to be happy.  However that frogspawn still isn't opening up as much as I thought it would be doing by now.  

 

 

[gone_PHiSHin]

I have the Tunze nano as well, sometimes all it needs is a good cleaning. hopefully that's it.  

 

good call on letting things be as far as salinity goes, until you get that new refractometer anyways.  salinity swings could very well be the culprit for any unhappy corals though.

 

as far as the torch and placement, I'm a big fan of just reading the coral and going from there.  if it seems to be extending fully and there is no visible tissue damage then the flow could be just fine!  

 

I like my euphyllia to gently wip around in the flow, with a couple 'breaks' every now and then, and not look like they are blowing toward one direction constantly...if that makes any sense.  hopefully the frogspawn opens up a little more for you, I'd just let it be for now.  if you see any signs of degradation, then it's time to move it.

[SURVEYMAN46123]

I think there was an issue with air in the return line, as I woke up this morning the back chamber was still full so it had to add water at some point last night I believe.   I'm still going to pull it out and give the float a good cleaning.   On the other hand I may just clean it up and put it up for sale.   I may go with the smart micro for space saving reasons, something I wish I did from the get go.   Oh well.

 

 

[SURVEYMAN46123]

Okay starting to get a bit frustrated.  ?

 

First off the salinity isnt as bad as bad as I once thought.  It's dropped from .025 to .024.  Not too much of a swing really.  

 

The thing that is really irking me is this diatom bloom again.  I had one a couple weeks ago, added some cleaners and in a day or so it was smooth sailing.  When I got home from work, well the diatoms are back.  My clean up crew is worthless.  The hermits don't seem to do anything, and the Astrea and Trochus Snails prefer the glass.   The one cerith snail doesn't do much either.  

 

The nitrates are in the 0 range on my kit and a local reefers kit.  My phosphates seemed a bit high to him (I need to get my own kit mind you) but he didn't think it would do this much harm.  Mind you I did start with dry rock so phosphates are probably still leaching.  The other parameters seem to be in check too.  I change the floss daily, after feeding and stirring the sand.  I'm just running floss and chemi-pure blue.  I'm also a light feeder.  

 

Do you think its the phosphates?   Ugh I don't know if I should do a waterchange tonight or just let it alone until Saturdays usual WC.  I'm just starting this hobby and am concerned I'm doing something wrong.  :/

 

 

 

 

[gone_PHiSHin]

diatoms are a natural part of a new tank, I wouldn't worry too much about that.  they will eventually exhaust themselves 

 

I prefer to use small media bags with carbon and GFO in the back over chemipure so I can adjust accordingly to the individual demands.  maybe try adding a small amount of GFO

[SURVEYMAN46123]

What about phosban or phosguard?   

 

Things just don't look as happy on the reef tonight.  The torch was looking great earlier I think it was just settling down for the night as these photos were taken before lights out.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gone_PHiSHin]

is your CUC all alive and accounted for?

 

something looks up with that caulastrea colony from the pic

 

i would run some ammonia/nitrite/nitrate tests, check your salinity, etc.  if all params seem normal then I'd just wait until tomorrow to see how everyone is doing once the lights are back on.

 

and yes, phosban is GFO.  careful though, you don't want to put in too much and lower your phosphates too quickly.

[SURVEYMAN46123]

Gotcha.  I ran my tests and everything was in check.  I haven't done anything different over the past few days other than adding the coral.  I'm afraid I may have added too much at one time and threw things off.  Man this is so frustrating.   The clean up crew is all there and alive.  Just lazy as hell IMO. 

 

 

 

[gone_PHiSHin]

I wouldn't worry then

 

i don't think you added too much coral at once.  what you added has little to no effect on bioload

 

just observe tomorrow and relax.  if your params are good, it's not panic time.  maybe do a small gallon WC tomorrow for peace of mind, and another small change on Saturday.  you want to keep things stable, if you go adding things like GFO or more carbon you might shock your system by removing things too quickly.  sometimes in this hobby, corals can do weird things for a day and still be just fine.  just keep an eye on everything 

[teenyreef]

I agree, go very slow with GFO or any other phosphate reducer. With GFO, I usually take the amount recommended by the BRS dosing calculator divide by two. You'll have to replace it more often, but I've upset my corals by reducing phosphates too fast too many times. And usually when that happens, it can take months for them to bounce back, if ever.

 

Generally, any problems with nuisance algae are to be expected in any tank less than about six months old, it's just part of the ugly tank phase while everything is getting in balance. You're best off figuring out the root cause of high phosphates and addressing that in the long run. In new tanks, it's usually due to the rocks leaching phosphates, and you just have to live with it until they get done. It took a good six months in my 40g before the diatoms stopped, in spite of all my efforts to fix them sooner. Just do regular water changes, be conservative with chemical filtration, and be patient. That's the hardest thing to learn in this hobby and most of us never do 

[SURVEYMAN46123]

Yea I guess I just didn't take into effect that dry rock would leech phosphates so long.   Honestly out of all the things I researched I missed this one.   I'm hoping by the end of the summer things will be on the up and up and things will be in balance.  

 

I am going to hold off on adding any more coral at this time and wait until the end of next month to add another fish.   I just need to be patient and enjoy what is there now.  Things will fill out eventually.  :thumbsup:

 

edit:  things are looking much better tonight.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[teenyreef]

That looks great to me!

[SURVEYMAN46123]

So the corals have been happy as of late except the Goni.  Just can't find it a happy place in my tank.  I got the salinity in check and did a major WC yesterday morning.  My freshwater tank gets a 50% change once every month so I plan to do the same with my Nano tank.   

 

However this afternoon as i was admiring the tank I noticed what looked to be some white spots on the Gramma.  I also noticed him scratching his sides on the sand.  So sure enough he has Ich.  Man such a bummer, I have no idea how he would have got it.   He is still eating like a pig so I'm hoping he will be strong enough to push through it.  However I had to break the news to my daughter that we won't be adding any new fish for quite awhile.  Honestly I'm not sure how long I should wait.  I'd hate to throw another inhabitant in and they get sick as well.  I also don't want to shut things down and start again.    What would you do?

 

 

[gone_PHiSHin]

bummer, sorry to hear that 

 

i'd set up a quarantine tank tomorrow!  and you'll have to wait about 8 weeks before putting him back in.  definitely no other additions right now

[SURVEYMAN46123]

Quarantine isn't an option unfortunately.  I don't have any space as it is.  So he lives and nothing is added or he succumbs to the disease and I wait 8-10 weeks.  Sadly I think those are my only options.  

 

 

[SaltyBuddha]

Do you think the first fish you had brought ich into the tank? That might account for the first loss you had and the reason this one has it as well.