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burtbollinger's Red Sea Reefer 170 (converted to planted)


burtbollinger

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55 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

very good...love the light...Running at 75, 30, 90, 80 on Natural Sun....been using your tank as a guide on what corals do well...I got the Raptors Peace and I think I saw that you had a Meteor Shower that I really liked...heading to a coral swap where Jason Fox is this weekend....looking to grab some of the following:  

 

  • Boston Bean or Lemonade Digi
  • Red Hot Setosa
  • Tyree Setting Sun Yellow Polyp Monti Cap
  • Meteor Shower Cyphastrea or Bling Bling Cyphastrea

My focus now is on color...making sure I dont end up with too much green...its just way too easy to find yourself with a tank full of green corals.

 

Also starting to read about this:  http://www.redseafish.com/reef-care-program/algae-management-program/no3po4-x/.  Seems interesting...and I'm running a good skimmer.

 

Also started dosing @ 3ml of ESV Bionic every other day...keeping the ALk. right around 9.

 

Finally, I split my return last night, using loc-line....


much better flow now, the single nozzle was just too powerful for my hammer, etc.

 

I go a bit more aggressive with my sandbed cleaning on my 29G. When I do water change I suck up part of my sand bed. After pouring out the saltwater in the bucket, I rinse the sand under hot tap water several times to get rid of any gunk inside, then I rinse it in RO/DI water and put it back into the tank. It may kill an occasional snail, but that really keeps my sandbed clean.

 

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burtbollinger

Finally added my corals....had to save up some after splurging on the Red Sea and the Nanobox.  Still battling a ditom bloom that I re-ingnited by overfeeding the new corals, disturbing sandbed too much? 

There is a Royal Gramma in the tank, very active but hiding in this video.  3 fish total....will not be adding more.  More fish = more problems.  I really now believe the Royal Gramma + Clown Pair is the perfect combo.  You get character and color.

 

I added and removed the split return after a week....it restricted the flow too much requiring me to bump up the MP10s, which make too much noise IMO.

 

I've finalized the vision for the tank...which is Montipora-focused, with a few quality LPS. (Acans, chalice, torch) I want BIG, grown out colonies of quality vs. lots of little mediocre frags.  The centerpieces will be Pink Boobies chalice and Setosa added in the late Fall.

No soft corals other than one small area of orange bam bam zoas (I've grown to hate the look of zoas) and a single small green crown leather.  (this may or may not get pulled as I am not wanting to have a green overload...something I see way too much.)

 

Current Corals : 

  • Red digitata (was told it was Forest Fire, but the guy lied...)
  • Tyree Setting Sun Yellow Polyp Monti Cap 
  • Tyree Red Brick Cyphastrea  (I don't like this coral)
  • Raptors Peace Favia?  (I don't like this coral)
  • JF Techno Cyphastrea  (I don't like this coral)
  • JF WWC Cherry Tree Monti  (I don't like this coral)
  • Miami Hurricane Chalice
  • Blastos
  • Purple-tipped branching hammer
  • Green Duncans
  • Orange Bam Bam zoas  (the best zoa, IMO)
  • Green crown leather (I don't like this coral)

 

Final Corals in Fall 2017:

Top:

  • Stylos, more torches

Middle:

  • WWC Pink Boobies Chalice, WWC Bubblegum Monster Chalice

Bottom:

  • JF Space invader pectinia  (saving $$$ and a large space for this)

 

 

lps-04-2.jpg


 

 

 

 

As far as equipment...love the BM Curve 5 Skimmer...the Nanobox Duo M has been amazing (78, 26, 90, 78 Natural Sun mode), and the Red Sea Reefer's quality and looks never stop blowing me away.  Highest recommendation possible on both tank and light, especially when placing this tank in a high traffic living area.

 

Also switched to Fritz RPM salt, which I really like so far...mixes to 8.5 dKH, has high Mag. and is SUPER CLEAN.

 

 

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I really like your vision for this tank. 

I like it a lot. 

So between now and fall, you'll be focusing on keeping/making the system super strong and stable?

 

I have never heard of that salt, need to go look it up. 

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burtbollinger
On 3/22/2017 at 6:44 AM, Weetabix7 said:

I really like your vision for this tank. 

I like it a lot. 

So between now and fall, you'll be focusing on keeping/making the system super strong and stable?

 

I have never heard of that salt, need to go look it up. 

yeah, I want to get it stable, let it grow so that I can "set the crown" kinda with the final pieces of stylo and the torches...I already know what those pieces are, I just can't afford them, plus I also want to make sure the monti I have now thrives first.

The other things I want to focus on is just consistency, keeping my hands out of the tank, and the dicipline of not buying random corals.  In my experience, once a tank starts humming along, adding random whim corals is Russian roulette with disease, pests...or end up with too much of a wild and random mix, which I really don't want.


Here's blurbs about the Fritz.  Not that I'm pinching pennies, but I got a 200 gallon box for 50 bucks...

 

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  • 1 month later...

Burt,

 

What are you using to attach equipment to the inside of the cabinet. I've been using industrial strength velcro, but even the adhesive on that is starting to give way.

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burtbollinger
13 minutes ago, schwaz said:

Burt,

 

What are you using to attach equipment to the inside of the cabinet. I've been using industrial strength velcro, but even the adhesive on that is starting to give way.

 
 

the same velcro you are using...so far so good at 5 months...but there's not too much that's really heavy really.

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  • 4 weeks later...
burtbollinger

very well, thanks for asking....did a large restructuring of the rockscape this weekend...the way I had it was just too vertical and needed to be smoothed out to make more room for corals.  other than that, very happy...thrilled with the RSR + Nanobox Duo combo.  

 

if your algae on sand is brown, its probably diatoms....just give it time and it will pass.  As far as cyano, i had a spell about 3 weeks ago...immediately did a Chemiclean treatment...I never mess around with Cyano.

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SelectedByNature

Sounds like a well thought-out build. I look forward to seeing it! Especially since I cannot envision it and haven't heard of half those corals. :P

 

I want a RSR! It isn't in the foreseeable future at this time. D:

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  • 2 weeks later...
burtbollinger

As an update....have some issues with the cyphestrea.  way more apt to bleach fade out than I thought...I have them tucked in the shade to color up, they are healing...but overall, would not do again...some of these wacky cyphestrea are not cheap....I should have stuck with basic meteor shower or bizzaro from the beginning.  

 

Still not added a lot of corals yet...committed to the slow game...I did score a piece of space invader pectinia tho, so i added that to the bottom right for now....other than that, sitting tight until probably September...then gonna fill this thing out a bit with some chalices on the middle right/right, and some more acans on the left...as for the top, im seeing how I do with the digitata in the tank before I commit to more up top....depending on how it goes, i anticipate green and purple digitata and rainbow stylophora up top....OR a few larger LPS colonies.  

 

also recommitted to no softies...still have the small green crown leather tucked deep in back left (still no growth or full opening after 5 months?!), and a small grouping of orange bam bams...but that it on the softies.

 

livestock is 2 clowns, royal gramma, 6 assorted snails, 3 crabs.   hardware has all been wonderful so far...and really loving the Fritz RPM salt.  Doing a 6-8 gallon change weekly.  Switching out 1/3 cup Rox 0.8 carbon in media bag bi-weekly.

 

Started dosing Red Sea Reef Energy few times a week...but I feel like too much is causing diatom-type dusting to occur...going will less from here on out....maybe 2x a week.


Parameters are 9 alk, 460 cal, 1460 mag, undetectable phosphates (hanna), and 1.026 on the salinity.   Not sure what my nitrates are...I'd guess below 10.  I really dislike Red Sea's nitrate kit.  

 

quick video from before lights out...corals not quite extended as normal....normal lighting with a yellow filter over camera lens.  

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
burtbollinger

I'm still getting light diatom blooms, especially after dosing Reef Energy.  Doing lots of water changes. 8 gallons weekly. What filtration should I be running?  am I missing something?  Stopping Reef Energy...Currently running 5 tablespoons of Rox carbon changed every 10 days, and running my skimmer wet.  Should I be doing anything else?  Phosphates still undetectable....nitrates under 7.5.  

 

Was as thinking of adding Poly Filter to the mix...  EDIT:  I never did 

 

or is all this expected at 6 months in?

 

EDIT:  Reef Energy was the cause, along with no cerith snails. Switched to Aquavitro Fuel, added Ceriths...zero issues.

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On 6/15/2017 at 2:45 PM, burtbollinger said:

As an update....have some issues with the cyphestrea.  way more apt to bleach fade out than I thought...I have them tucked in the shade to color up...overall, would not do again...I should have stuck with basic meteor shower or bizzaro from the beginning.  

 

Still not added a lot of corals yet...committed to the slow game...I did score a piece of space invader pectinia tho, so i added that to the bottom right for now....other than that, sitting tight until probably September...then gonna fill this thing out a bit with some chalices on the middle right/right, and some more acans on the left...as for the top, im seeing how I do with the digitata in the tank before I commit to more up top....depending on how it goes, i anticipate green and purple digitata and rainbow stylophora up top....OR a few larger LPS colonies.  

 

also recommitted to no softies...still have the small green crown leather tucked deep in back left, and a small grouping of orange bam bams...but that it on the softies.

 

livestock is 2 clowns, royal gramma, 6 assorted snails, 3 crabs.   hardware has all been wonderful so far...and really loving the Fritz RPM salt.  Doing a 6-8 gallon change weekly.  Switching out 1/3 cup Rox 0.8 carbon in media bag bi-weekly.

 

Started dosing Red Sea Reef Energy few times a week...but I feel like too much is causing diatom-type dusting to occur...going will less from here on out....maybe 2x a week.


Parameters are 9 alk, 460 cal, 1460 mag, undetectable phosphates (hanna), and 1.026 on the salinity.   Not sure what my nitrates are...I'd guess below 10.  I really dislike Red Sea's nitrate kit.  

 

quick video from before lights out...corals not quite extended as normal....normal lighting with a yellow filter over camera lens.  

 

 

 

 

I like it! :) 

 

I've been seeing space invader frags everywhere lately.....I have to get one when my 75 is ready......Very cool.  

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5 hours ago, burtbollinger said:

I'm still getting light diatom blooms, especially after dosing Reef Energy.  Doing lots of water changes. 8 gallons weekly. What filtration should I be running?  am I missing something?  Stopping Reef Energy...Currently running 5 tablespoons of Rox carbon changed every 10 days, and running my skimmer wet.  Should I be doing anything else?  Phosphates still undetectable....nitrates under 7.5.  

 

Was as thinking of adding Poly Filter to the mix...

 

or is all this expected at 6 months in?

 

I'd say give it a week or two after stopping Reef Energy before worrying about changing something else up. 

Changing too much will likely start a negative cascade and I'm guessing that stopping the Reef Energy may be all that's needed. 

Interested to see the difference in a week. 

 

Sorry about your struggles with the Cyphastrea, but I do see some nice corals in there. 

I think I'm going about as slow as you on my Waterfall Pico. :lol:

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SelectedByNature
8 hours ago, burtbollinger said:

I'm still getting light diatom blooms, especially after dosing Reef Energy.  Doing lots of water changes. 8 gallons weekly. What filtration should I be running?  am I missing something?  Stopping Reef Energy...Currently running 5 tablespoons of Rox carbon changed every 10 days, and running my skimmer wet.  Should I be doing anything else?  Phosphates still undetectable....nitrates under 7.5.  

 

Was as thinking of adding Poly Filter to the mix...

 

or is all this expected at 6 months in?

Hmm whenever I dose reef energy I notice my glass get covered I brown algae as well. 

 

I don't know if it's worth it or not tbh I haven't noticed anything special with reef energy.

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burtbollinger
2 hours ago, SelectedByNature said:

Hmm whenever I dose reef energy I notice my glass get covered I brown algae as well. 

 

I don't know if it's worth it or not tbh I haven't noticed anything special with reef energy.

my personal theory is that Reef Energy is meant to be used in conjunction with NoPOx....so you'd have very low nitrate levels.  Whereas I dont wanna mess with that stuff...so my nitrates are between 5-10...and thats feeding the tank very lightly with a light bioload.  This is all just speculation though...but every time I dose Reef Energy, I end up with a light diatom bloom...

 

I had a lot of success years ago without Reef Energy, Reef Chili, etc...I think I might go back to the old school methods, just armed with better test kits (Hanna) and see how that works out.

 

 

10 hours ago, WV Reefer said:

 

I like it! :) 

 

I've been seeing space invader frags everywhere lately.....I have to get one when my 75 is ready......Very cool.  

I got a great frag of it for $90...its a very neat coral...glows like it has a battery inside it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
burtbollinger

I've seen a pretty large turnaround in my battle with diatom blooms over the past few days.  The combo of a reduced lighting schedule (whites), Purigen and running GFO passively has dramatically cleared my water and eliminated a large portion of my re-occuring diatoms...still not gonna mess with dosing any more Reef Energy for a while....but will at some point to test if it is what's causing it.   

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47 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

I've seen a pretty large turnaround in my battle with diatom blooms over the past few days.  The combo of a reduced lighting schedule (whites), Purigen and running GFO passively has dramatically cleared my water and eliminated a large portion of my re-occuring diatoms...still not gonna mess with dosing any more Reef Energy for a while....but will at some point to test if it is what's causing it.   

 

So glad to hear this!!!

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burtbollinger

was able to take a quick video of the amount of light that is hitting my tank from @ 11-1.  this amount of light certainly was not helping my diatom battle....added a timelapse snippet as well.  ended up adjusting the whites on my nanobox to take this sunlight into account...thanks Dave for looking over my settings.

 

 

 

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52 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

was able to take a quick video of the amount of light that is hitting my tank from @ 11-1.  this amount of light certainly was not helping my diatom battle....added a timelapse snippet as well.  ended up adjusting the whites on my nanobox to take this sunlight into account...thanks Dave for looking over my settings.

 

 

 

 

It's such great light though!! :)  

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burtbollinger

recap, overview and a question on what to do next...

 

  • Nitrates hover around 7.5.
  • Phosphates have always been undetectable 0.00 
  • Dosing small amounts of ESV 2-part...(less than 3 ML @ 3x per week) every few days keeping Alk @ 8.8 - 9 and Calcium at @450. Mag @ 1400
  • Dabbling with dosing @ 3ML of Red Sea Reef Energy 1x per week + broadcast feeding of Reef Chili (I feel Reef Energy was perhaps fueling diatom blooms)
  • Salt mix is Fritz RPM, 20% weekly change. 1.025-1.026
  • Fish fed once per day with LRS Reef Frenzy Nano.

Filtration had been simply a Red Sea mesh filter sock replaced 3x a week and a BM Curve 5 skimmer, plus occasional use of 0.8 rox carbon in a filter sock changed weekly

Tank sits in a VERY well-sunlit room where it gets direct sun for 1.5 hours per day. 

Had noticed consistent diatom blooms...and was having to clean the glass almost 2x a day. Fed up, I ceased the Reef Energy and about 3 weeks ago, did the following:

  • Passively run bag of Purigen
  • passively run GFO
  • 2 hour reduction in the amount of the white lights on the tank to compensate for the amount of natural light hitting tank.


This has made a night and day difference. Moving forward, I have just purchased a small Avast Spyglass reactor for the GFO, and want to run a small amount on a maintenance basis....and continue running the Purigen passively...occasionally running the Rox carbon for polish purposes.

I've also started to dose Reef Energy + Reef Chili again, and so far, no more diatom blooms.

Is this an ok approach? Was I still in new-tank mode and just freaking out? Any glaring mistakes or thing's I'm missing? I have read so much about dosing NoPox...or vinegar....perhaps running carbon, GFO and vinegar...but I'm kinda scared to get started with all that if the Purigen and GFO  is working.

 

The few would you bother? Nitrates are steady hovering @ 7-10...and I am committed to phosphate control with my incoming reactor.

The alternative would be to proceed slowly... not carbon dose, simply keep up on water changes, skim, continue purigen use and see how adding the reactor positively impacts my tank...
montipora cap, undata and digitata frags seem to be doing fine, but as this is planned to be a LPS-dominant tank, 

 

 

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I personally see no problem with those nitrate levels. 

I think one mistake I made in the past was to keep my water too clean, I think having a small amount of nitrates in there is beneficial.

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Nano sapiens
2 hours ago, burtbollinger said:

recap, overview and a question on what to do next...

 

  • Nitrates hover around 7.5.
  • Phosphates have always been undetectable 0.00 
  • Dosing small amounts of ESV 2-part...(less than 3 ML @ 3x per week) every few days keeping Alk @ 8.8 - 9 and Calcium at @450. Mag @ 1400
  • Dabbling with dosing @ 3ML of Red Sea Reef Energy 1x per week + broadcast feeding of Reef Chili (I feel Reef Energy was perhaps fueling diatom blooms)
  • Salt mix is Fritz RPM, 20% weekly change. 1.025-1.026
  • Fish fed once per day with LRS Reef Frenzy Nano.

Filtration had been simply a Red Sea mesh filter sock replaced 3x a week and a BM Curve 5 skimmer, plus occasional use of 0.8 rox carbon in a filter sock changed weekly

Tank sits in a VERY well-sunlit room where it gets direct sun for 1.5 hours per day. 

Had noticed consistent diatom blooms...and was having to clean the glass almost 2x a day. Fed up, I ceased the Reef Energy and about 3 weeks ago, did the following:

  • Passively run bag of Purigen
  • passively run GFO
  • 2 hour reduction in the amount of the white lights on the tank to compensate for the amount of natural light hitting tank.


This has made a night and day difference. Moving forward, I have just purchased a small Avast Spyglass reactor for the GFO, and want to run a small amount on a maintenance basis....and continue running the Purigen passively...occasionally running the Rox carbon for polish purposes.

I've also started to dose Reef Energy + Reef Chili again, and so far, no more diatom blooms.

Is this an ok approach? Was I still in new-tank mode and just freaking out? Any glaring mistakes or thing's I'm missing? I have read so much about dosing NoPox...or vinegar....perhaps running carbon, GFO and vinegar...but I'm kinda scared to get started with all that if the Purigen and GFO  is working.

 

The few would you bother? Nitrates are steady hovering @ 7-10...and I am committed to phosphate control with my incoming reactor.

The alternative would be to proceed slowly... not carbon dose, simply keep up on water changes, skim, continue purigen use and see how adding the reactor positively impacts my tank...
montipora cap, undata and digitata frags seem to be doing fine, but as this is planned to be a LPS-dominant tank, 

 

 

 

I wouldn't stress out at all with 7 NO3 in a relatively new system.  I'd be much more concerned with overly aggressive stripping of phosphate (inorganic and organic).

 

I'm curious.  You say the corals are looking good, but you are inquiring what to do next.  Are you concerned that what you are currently doing now is not going to work as time goes on?  There are many ideas and products on the market that are designed to address some sort of system issue (real or imagined), but the old adage 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' is time tested.  As examples, if you can't keep PO4 at a reasonable level with regular water changes and detritus removal, then a little GFO is fine.  If the water is 'yellowish', then a little GAC is fine, too.  If the tank is low on oxygen and you'd like to have any additional organics/phosphates removed, or to remove bacteria when carbon dosing to help remove NO3/PO4, a skimmer can help.  Interestingly, over time many now view these as 'necessities', which is certainly not the case as proved by those of us that run successful systems without chemical or mechanical filtration over longer time periods.

 

Consistency, stability, patience and simply observing the corals regularly will pay off handsomely.

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burtbollinger

yeah, I guess I have a concern with the montis really...I want to make sure I'm doing everything right for them.  I am slowly healing them up after fading them by giving too much light...now that they are on the mend and coloring back up, I want to make sure that they are happy...with the nitrates where they are, I was getting a bit nervous.  

 

Plus, I read so much about people using Nopox or dosing vinegar/vodka, it had me wondering if it was something that I should be exploring.

 

Basically, just want to have the tank set up with a parameters that's good for a few montis + LPS.  If I can do that with where I am sitting today, then I dont think I need to do anything else...but if 7-10 nitrates is too high for Montis, then I feel like I want to explore carbon dosing.

 

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36 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

yeah, I guess I have a concern with the montis really...I want to make sure I'm doing everything right for them.  I am slowly healing them up after fading them by giving too much light...now that they are on the mend and coloring back up, I want to make sure that they are happy...with the nitrates where they are, I was getting a bit nervous.  

 

Plus, I read so much about people using Nopox or dosing vinegar/vodka, it had me wondering if it was something that I should be exploring.

 

Basically, just want to have the tank set up with a parameters that's good for a few montis + LPS.  If I can do that with where I am sitting today, then I dont think I need to do anything else...but if 7-10 nitrates is too high for Montis, then I feel like I want to explore carbon dosing.

 

 

I'm pretty sure those nitrates will be perfectly fine for Monti's and LPS and that it could actually be detrimental to have them too low.

I'm interested to hear what others think though.

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  • burtbollinger changed the title to burtbollinger's Red Sea Reefer 170 (converted to planted)

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