MrJoels Evo 13.5 Journal

[MrJoel]

After a month and a half of running the Chaeto in the 2nd chamber, I think my Nitrate level is too low. Chaeto is light green and not growing.  Nitrate is not registering in any significant way on my RedSea test kit. The water looks like it has an ever so slight tint from the side but the view from above it is almost at the zero level.  

Nitrate: ~0 ppm

Phosphate: 0.031ppm

From what I have been reading it sounds like Nitrate at this level will stall the growth of both macroalgae and corals. With the introduction of the clowns, my feeding has gone up and I Still feed the corals a few times a week. My Emerald crabs have actually started coming out while feeding the coral from a pipette, and grabbing food as it comes out of the tip. The larger of the two has even taken to grabbing the pipette and pulling to toward its mouth. It makes me laugh every time. I need to get a video of this. 

I am looking at options to raise my Nitrates a bit to ~2ppm. I am hesitant to just feed more as I feel like I am already feeding a lot.  Some people list success with using potassium nitrate or alternately Seachems Flourish nitrogen. (Not the regular flourish which adds other components like copper) 

 

Do you think nitrates being so low is likely the reason my cyphastrea is fading? Or maybe I just need to move it to a corner with less light even though the stock light is not very strong on the bottom anyway.

[MrJoel]

I have been testing with dosing Flourish nitrogen. After dosing 1.5 ml twice over 3 days, I tested nitrates again and it registered ~3-4ppt. Then after 24 hours without dosing it was back to ~.5ppt.
I am going to keep dosing for the next few weeks to see how the system does.
I will need to track nitrate and phosphate to see if phosphate does indeed start going down with the return of detectable levels of nitrates to the system.
The Chaeto is looking a bit darker now and seems to have grown a bit. In theory, it's growth will start binding up nitrate and phosphate for removal from the system.

I also swapped places between the Cyphatrea and Xenia. I also but a rock for the Xenia to attach to since it was starting to wander off the plug.

 

[MrJoel]

As of today the fuzzy white growth on the rocks seems to be going away.  This is looking like it may have been due to an imbalance in the nitrate to phosphate ratio. More testing and time will tell.

[MrJoel]

It's been a while since I posted. The tank went from my fuzzy rock situation going back and forth. A few months back it shifted to red slime. At the same time, the corals started looking happier so I hesitated to do anything drastic to the tank.  

In the last few weeks, it took over more started encroaching on some coral so I decided to take action. I added an airstone, removed carbon, Chemipure blue nano and then dosed with ChemiClean.  It really did work well. Overnight the color faded noticeably. By the next morning, it was almost completely faded and was peeling off the rockwork. I gave it some assistance with a pipet and long tweezers. Some of it was so thick that it was peeling off the rock work in mats. The female clown really did not care for this and began biting my hand when I cleaned near the rockwork where she hangs out at night. 

It is looking a lot nicer than it did a few weeks ago and the Corals that were being encroached upon seem to be happier.

Tank shot post-ChemiClean. (Still not pretty, but it is sooooo much cleaner now.)

 

The hammer is growing and starting to split. (The trumpet has also spit a few times now but I have no picture of that today.

 The Favia is spreading slowly onto the rock work. 

 

And the Meteor shower Cyphastrea has taken off in its corner of the tank. It has fully covered it's plug and is spreading onto the rockwork. The color has improved in the last few months as well. Not to mention the polyps are extending and flowing in the current, which they never used to do.

 

[MrJoel]

And the Stock light has died. The clear silicone has failed on the side with the touch switch letting moisture in and corroding the electronics there. It started Dimming at first, then switching to Blue light only on its own.  I managed to find an unused replacement light on ebay from somebody who bought an Evo 13.5 and upgraded the light right away.  The only problem is it will take a week to get here. I know corals can go a bit without light since they get shipped in dark boxes but I am worried still since a week is longer than they usually go.