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Teenyreef's Deep Blue 30g - Massive Reorg


teenyreef

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1 hour ago, StinkyBunny said:

You've got some UGLY ass storms coming your way, be safe tonight.

Thanks - we've been getting lots of thunder but it's only rained for a little bit so far.

9 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

NICE, love the new, healthy Anthias, as well as all of the other cool fish in here!!!

 

Too bad there's no Spaghetti Eatin' fish...

Thanks Weetie! I know...the only ones that are reported to maybe eat them are the yellow coris wrasse and the copperband butterfly. I've only had the coris wrasse in the 40g for a couple weeks, so we'll see if he goes for them.

 

I don't think I can get away with a copperband in a 30g, so that option is probably out of the question :rolleyes:

7 hours ago, StinkyBunny said:

Anthias take a royal beating in the supply chain. Those guy need to eat all the time, they can't handle a few large meals, they can't absorb all of the nutrients they need that way. This is the reason they have such a high mortality rate. My guy in The Solomons gets them in the last minute and they do quite well.

 

Did you buy a blue laser like the one I loaned you? If you did, try that on those worms. I've cooked them in place with mine, it kills them.

I did get a blue laser, but most of the hair worms are deep in the crevices in the rocks. I'd have to put the laser in the tank to get to them :unsure:

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StinkyBunny

Well, bear's ass, that won't work. The only ones I have are a few vermetid snails that I need to fry this week. The only worms my Copperband butterfly shows any interest in is feather dusters. Good thing he's an Aussie or there'd be butterfly on the barbie. I don't know if your dwarf puffer would show any interest in them, just be careful some of them will go after SPS. I only have Montiporas and 1 Bali Green and blue staghorn coral in my tank and he hasn't bothered them.

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I can now report that even after several hours in iodine dip, the worms survived. I think the tiny holes they are in are too tight and they completely plug it up when they retract 

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They are some stubborn worms! Loving the anthias.

 

And reading back a bit I vote for increased feeding and try adding reef roids or something if your not already. I did that to dirty up my water a little bit for a clam. May have gone a little over board and brought on cyano. But slow and steady and it's an easy way to increase those parameters. 

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I've been feeding frozen twice a day now, and adding reef roids two or three times a week. This, combined with a daily dose of CaNo3, keeps nitrates up at a whopping 0.25! But that's made all the difference, the sps are growing and keeping their color, the chaeto is growing, and I'm getting some algae on the glass. 

This is the first tank I've started from dry rock. It's nice to be able to control what goes in the tank, but it just takes a lot longer to get the bioload up. 

Btw, BRS just published the latest test results from running a chaeto refugium. Pretty compelling results, especially when keeping the chaeto under really bright light so that it out-competes the algae in the display. This has me thinking about maybe getting a bigger reactor! 

 

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StinkyBunny

You're already having issues keeping the nitrates up and you're gonna put an even bigger reactor online? Don't make me come down there!!! ;)

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7 hours ago, StinkyBunny said:

You're already having issues keeping the nitrates up and you're gonna put an even bigger reactor online? Don't make me come down there!!! ;)

Lol, good point! Mebbe later when the tank is more mature and balanced :lol:

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Hey Teeny, 

the tank is looking great, and I'm happy to hear that the cheato approach is working! Quick question for you - I know you tried cheato in your 10gal. Was wondering what you tried and why it didn't work. I can't find the post on your other thread but would like to know more about it. Thanks in advance!

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1 hour ago, Tuffryu said:

Hey Teeny, 

the tank is looking great, and I'm happy to hear that the cheato approach is working! Quick question for you - I know you tried cheato in your 10gal. Was wondering what you tried and why it didn't work. I can't find the post on your other thread but would like to know more about it. Thanks in advance!

I tried it when I first set up the tank. I used the second and third chambers combined in the inTank media basket to hold the chaeto, and I scraped off the black plastic backing on the back of the tank. Then I mounted a home brew fixture with a CFL bulb so that it shone directly through the back of the tank.

 

It didn't work well - the chaeto didn't grow much at all, and since all of the water in the tank was flowing through it, the chaeto caught lots of detritus. Plus, the amount of chaeto in that small section of the basket just didn't seem like it would be enough to make much of a difference.

 

In hindsight, I think part of the problem was that it was a new tank and it was probably too clean to grow chaeto in the first place. Who knows, maybe I'll try it again someday :)

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8 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

I tried it when I first set up the tank. I used the second and third chambers combined in the inTank media basket to hold the chaeto, and I scraped off the black plastic backing on the back of the tank. Then I mounted a home brew fixture with a CFL bulb so that it shone directly through the back of the tank.

 

It didn't work well - the chaeto didn't grow much at all, and since all of the water in the tank was flowing through it, the chaeto caught lots of detritus. Plus, the amount of chaeto in that small section of the basket just didn't seem like it would be enough to make much of a difference.

 

In hindsight, I think part of the problem was that it was a new tank and it was probably too clean to grow chaeto in the first place. Who knows, maybe I'll try it again someday :)

 

Oh that's right, i'm seeing the post now and you did that when you first set up the tank! Yea that may have had to do with it - no nutrients. I just found this ultra thin plant light that I'll velcro to the back. I'm wondering if the last chamber where the return pump would be a better location?

 

 

 

Screen Shot 2017-07-24 at 4.55.18 PM.png

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I would think the third chamber would be difficult because you need to be able to get the chaeto out easily and frequently to thin it out. That's a cool light! How much PAR does it provide?

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Good call on the ease of removing.

No idea on par levels, but the ratings are pretty good and it says it covers 430, 460, 630, 660nm lumins so hopefully it will work. Cheap too  - only $10. 

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7 hours ago, Tuffryu said:

Good call on the ease of removing.

No idea on par levels, but the ratings are pretty good and it says it covers 430, 460, 630, 660nm lumins so hopefully it will work. Cheap too  - only $10. 

Cool - let me know how it works!

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I did a water change last night and took a semi-top-down picture while the water was low. Unfortunately I forgot to turn off the T5's :(

 

Oh well, at least this documents the status of the tank as of now. I'll try to get a better picture this weekend!

 

2017-07-26 DB30 Top Down

 

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fishfreak0114

I love how vibrant everything is, that green monti really catches the eye!  Are those Rasta's at the bottom going around the edge of the plug?  They really pop.

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3 minutes ago, fishfreak0114 said:

I love how vibrant everything is, that green monti really catches the eye!  Are those Rasta's at the bottom going around the edge of the plug?  They really pop.

Yeah, that green monti is really bright. It's a great indicator that things are going well in this tank. When nutrients were too low and algae had taken over, they would turn pale yellow and then kind of turd yellow and then kind of, well, turd brown. 

 

Yes, the rastas are going around the edge, I don't know why. The frag started is two or three polyps on top of the plug, then one started on the edge and the others died. Now it's going all around the edge. I'm hoping once they go all the way around they'll start filling in on top :)

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Today was spring cleaning day. The egg crate was starting to get covered with algae, and the bare bottom was getting encrusted with coralline and other stuff that needed to be scraped. So I put all the frags in a Tupperware container and put it in the tank, then pulled the egg crate to soak in bleach overnight. 

 

I also pulled the skimmer and cleaned it out, and stirred up the sump to get it all cleaned out. Then I siphoned all the detritus off the bottom of the display tank. 

 

I also replaced the tubing for the chaeto reactor with some nice soft tubing from BRS, and cleaned out the reactor. I was disappointed to find the chaeto has deteriorated over the last month and was getting taken over by green algae. I pulled out everything that was breaking down and put the remaining clumps back in the reactor. 

 

I programmed the chaeto reactor pump to turn on and off, one minute on, 20 seconds off. The idea is to get the chaeto floating up and down the reactor and moving around a bit. Then I will clean it out every week or two. Hopefully this will reduce the green algae and get the chaeto going again. 

 

Nitrates are holding around 1 without having to dose CaNo3, so I think the increased feeding is working. Now I just have to make sure things don't get out of control with excess nutrients. 

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StinkyBunny

There might be something on that frag plug that the zooanthids don't like. If they're made in China, so who the hell knows what's in there. I've had a few plugs that nothing would grow on. Now I use small pieces of rock to put stuff on. Plus I'm a cheap bastard so that appeals to my tight wad side. :D

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5 hours ago, StinkyBunny said:

There might be something on that frag plug that the zooanthids don't like. If they're made in China, so who the hell knows what's in there. I've had a few plugs that nothing would grow on. Now I use small pieces of rock to put stuff on. Plus I'm a cheap bastard so that appeals to my tight wad side. :D

True, I may try another plug if they don't start filling in. 

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After soaking in bleach overnight, all the algae on the egg crate is dissolved. I rinsed it really well in tap water, then in water with lots of Seachem Prime. Then I set it out in the sun to get really dry before putting it back in the tank.

 

Here's the tank with the corals sitting the in their little timeout box and the egg crate pulled out.

2017-07-30 DB30 Cleaning Day

 

And here it is shortly after putting things back together. Most of the zoas weren't open yet, and the egg crate in the back is gone because I didn't have room to soak both at once, so it's soaking now.

2017-07-30 DB30 FTS

 

I'll be thinning things out a bit tomorrow - I'm going to put together a care package of some of the spare frags for @TheKleinReef.

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6 minutes ago, TheKleinReef said:

Every time I see this tank, I want to pick one up. 

Thanks again :)

You're welcome! I really like the form factor of this tank. Plenty of room to work and the shallow water makes it easy to move stuff around. Plus it looks good :)

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StinkyBunny
2 hours ago, TheKleinReef said:

Every time I see this tank, I want to pick one up. 

Thanks again :)

In the Baltimore area they run $100 used. I have 3 of them for the pieces I keep.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/10/2017 at 11:02 AM, DaveFason said:

Everything looking good John? 

 

-Dave

Well, I'll find out when I get back from vacation tomorrow night! Things looked good when I left though :)

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