A College Fusion - SPS Dominated IM 25 Lagoon

[WindyCityReefer.]

Finally got the fixture up and running over the tank! The biggest issue was trying to mount it properly over the tank without drilling into the ceiling. Thankfully, I got some shelving and used a pair of these which I picked up from Home Depot for less than $3. 

 

I highly doubt I will get close to that 160 Ib. working load limit 😅 

 

After some measuring, I ended up with this. As of right now the light hangs about 13" off the water surface. Ideally I will bring it down to about 8-10" for less light scatter and increased PAR, but I wanted to ease the tank to the new light. 

 

 

Playing around with Bluefish is fun! I am really digging the NanoBox arrays. Per Dave's recommendation - I decided to go with the SPS+ lighting program.

 

              '

 

I also received my online order for the T5 bulbs. I decided to start with an ATI coral plus bulb and a blue plus and see how the tank responds/looks. The tentative plan is to run the T5s for about 2-4 hours midday for improved PAR/spectrum. It would be awesome to get a PAR meter to plot out the entire tank. Maybe in the near future! 

[WindyCityReefer.]

Today's agenda: water change, new bag of carbon, changed filter floss. I also installed the T5s and had them running from about 12-3pm. Corals all seemed to respond well to the added light 👍

 

 

 

                

[mitten_reef]

The digi and the stylo! They took over everything! Will you be adding some new rocks for more acros?

[WindyCityReefer.]

1 hour ago, mitten_reef said:

The digi and the stylo! They took over everything! Will you be adding some new rocks for more acros?

I was debating that, but I have too many sand-dwelling corals to add more rock. I might have to relocate a couple to make some space. 

 

Have you gotten your ATI fixture up and running?

[mitten_reef]

46 minutes ago, WindyCityReefer. said:

I was debating that, but I have too many sand-dwelling corals to add more rock. I might have to relocate a couple to make some space. 

 

Have you gotten your ATI fixture up and running?

No not yet. Waiting on the bulbs. 3 blue plus and one coral plus arriving Thursday. 

[WindyCityReefer.]

Weekly water change out of the way. Unfortunately, this week is midterm week so I have been a little preoccupied with studying. I was able to snag some photos after some maintenance today. 

 

Over the top of the reef

 

Newest Walt Disney Frag! I cannot wait for this guy to take off. 

 

My slowest growing chalice

 

And just a shot that I thought was super cool. No growth out of the water just yet. 

 

 

Just a couple goals and notes:

•  Turning the tank into a bare bottom - Reason being, the amount of flow created by the 2 MP10s and spin streams really kicks up the sand. Plus, when I have to move from my current housing situation, it will be a lot easier to transport and reduced likelihood of a crash. I know that this will require me to rehome the Melanarus wrasse. 
•  Clean up the sand bed - the bottom of the tank looks like a coral "garage sale" with little organization. 
•  Frag some of the digi and stylo - they are beginning to shade some of the other corals. I could not imagine what I would be going through right now if I still had the orange cap!
•  The tank has been on cruise control for the most part. I checked ALK today and it was about 7.5. Ideally I would like to bump that up to 8.2 or so but with everything the way it is, I am not in any rush.

 

[lilmatty5dimes]

Amazing tank. Love those chalices and sps collection is awesome. Just grabbed a lagoon as well and couldn’t find a decide price for a 24” t5 fixture so went with the new 32hd. 

[WindyCityReefer.]

14 hours ago, lilmatty5dimes said:

Amazing tank. Love those chalices and sps collection is awesome. Just grabbed a lagoon as well and couldn’t find a decide price for a 24” t5 fixture so went with the new 32hd. 

Thanks, lilmatty! I appreciate the kind words 🙂 I was always hoping to upgrade my AI Sol but, it was difficult to find something decently priced (especially with the newer LED fixtures being upwards of $700-800 new). I am in love with the hybrid fixture though! 

 

Today I did a bigger water change and switched out filter floss. I was gone for about a week and had a friend watch the tank while I was away. Unfortunately, I think he overfed a bit. The tank has a bit of an algae bloom going on. In addition, bubble algae has somehow taken off in the tank.. I am hoping with manual removal and frequent water changes I can bring everything back to normal. I do have some Purigen and phosphate remover worse comes to worse.

[WindyCityReefer.]

Not the best day today. Corals look pissed off and still battling this darn algae. Tested parameters today:

 

Salinity: 1.024sg

Temp: 78 degrees

Alk: 9.9dKh

NO3: undetectable

PO4: 0.01ppm

 

I do not know how the alk just shot up like that. Dialed back the doser and did a water change. I feel like the SPS are so pale due to the lack of nutrients so I added some potassium nitrate to bump up to 2ppm. I guess the alk jumped up since the corals stopped taking it in and I have not adjusted the doser up until this point. 

 

Just going to observe for now and hope for the best. I am heading to the west side of the state for the weekend and will not be back until Sunday. Fingers crossed!

[WindyCityReefer.]

Just some recent news:

 

I have been testing the water daily to figure out what is going on in the tank and the algae bloom. Testing always revealed within normal values (salinity: 1.026, alk: 7.8-9dkH, calc: 450-480, NO3: ~2ppm, PO4: ~0.02ppm). Last week, I gave some phosphate removal media a try and thankfully the algae has slowed down. In addition, I upped my water change schedule to 1-2x a week. Everything seems to be getting better and the SPS are showing polyp extension again 🙌  Regular additions of potassium nitrate have also seemed to help. I am hoping that my nitrates & phosphates are balancing themselves out. Here are some photos after today's water change and maintenance. 

 

 

Walt Disney frag starting to encrust!

 

I cut back the T5s to about 1-2 hours per day to see if I could combat the algae. At the same time I have considered getting a pair of actinic bulbs to fill in the front end of the fixture (the current blue+ and coral+ take up the middle sockets). The plan would be to put 2x actinic bulbs in the front 2 sockets. Reading up on some posts from Adam from BattleCorals, he has had great experience with actinic bulbs in his systems. Looking at ATI's data graph, I like what I see in terms of wavelength peaks in the 400-480 range. The nice thing about actinic bulbs is that they are not overly bright and most of the wavelengths cannot be picked up by the human eye. The "pop" and fluorescence they give off the coral is a bonus too. 

 

 

Aside from that, the tank is hanging in there. My goal is to really try and pull some color out of my SPS. I feel that along with the light change, alk swing and algae bloom the corals have faced a lot. The hope is that some stability will do the tank good!

 

Side note: the one con I have about the new light fixture is that I am having a hard time taking some quality photos of individual pieces! I either get a glare from the arrays or washed out color. 

 

I also had to do some coral saving today of my WWC Blueberry acro that has reduced to the size of a penny since being shaded by the stylo on the island and being encroached upon by the digi. I had to remove the entire center rock and take a screwdriver to the remaining coral to save a couple fragments. Here is a photo of the old mother colony where I got it from a fellow hobbyist. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Matteo]

I second the actinics. I only have a 2bulb 4puck nanobox retro and I run both actinics. Didn't want excess algae growth but wanted POP. I just relay on the LEDs for the main lighting. I wonder if a blue + actinic would be good? 🤔

 

Awesome tank! 

[WindyCityReefer.]

1 hour ago, Matteo said:

I second the actinics. I only have a 2bulb 4puck nanobox retro and I run both actinics. Didn't want excess algae growth but wanted POP. I just relay on the LEDs for the main lighting. I wonder if a blue + actinic would be good? 🤔

 

Awesome tank! 

Hey Matteo! How do you like the actinics? I am currently running the LEDs as the main source of lighting (nanobox SPS+ preset) for the tank too, but have 1 blue+ and 1 coral+ running as well.

 

An additional blue+ is not a bad idea either. That would make for 2 blue+, 1 coral+ and 1 actinic.  

[Matteo]

35 minutes ago, WindyCityReefer. said:

Hey Matteo! How do you like the actinics? I am currently running the LEDs as the main source of lighting (nanobox SPS+ preset) for the tank too, but have 1 blue+ and 1 coral+ running as well.

 

An additional blue+ is not a bad idea either. That would make for 2 blue+, 1 coral+ and 1 actinic.  

That's a solid combo. If you're having algae issues do a coral +, actinic and blue+ and actinic maybe? 

 

I like mine! I'm running geisemens or however you spell the brand. My whites on my nanobox are running on a higher driver mha so my whites are only at 10%. I used to use a coral + and actinic but I didn't like all the white haha

[WindyCityReefer.]

1 hour ago, Matteo said:

That's a solid combo. If you're having algae issues do a coral +, actinic and blue+ and actinic maybe? 

 

I like mine! I'm running geisemens or however you spell the brand. My whites on my nanobox are running on a higher driver mha so my whites are only at 10%. I used to use a coral + and actinic but I didn't like all the white haha

Cool, thanks for the advice! Any reason why you chose Geisemen over ATI?

 

I am not a big fan of a lot of white either. Just enough to make it look natural is more my style

[Matteo]

17 minutes ago, WindyCityReefer. said:

Cool, thanks for the advice! Any reason why you chose Geisemen over ATI?

 

I am not a big fan of a lot of white either. Just enough to make it look natural is more my style

Well both are German made so quality is not an issue. But when reading around people said the Geismans were a better actinic than the the ati's. They're pretty much the same price Soni said why not? 🤔 

 

(shameless plug) take a look at my recent photos in my journal. Those are with my actinics on, whites at 10%, cyan at 25% blue at 90% and uv at 80%. Loving the color! 

[WindyCityReefer.]

2 minutes ago, Matteo said:

Well both are German made so quality is not an issue. But when reading around people said the Geismans were a better actinic than the the ati's. They're pretty much the same price Soni said why not? 🤔 

 

(shameless plug) take a look at my recent photos in my journal. Those are with my actinics on, whites at 10%, cyan at 20% blue at 90% and uv at 60%. Loving the color! 

Definitely will take a look! Looks like I need to check out the Gieseman bulbs 👍

[WindyCityReefer.]

I have been testing the tank all week and I think everything is stable once again! Alk: 8.3 dkH consistently all week, Calcium: ~440ppm, NO3: ~2ppm, PO4: undetectable. Corals are looking a lot better, coloring back up slowly and algae growth has decreased drastically. Here is to hoping things continue to improve 🤞

 

Black Friday sales cannot come soon enough. I will be on the hunt for additional T5 bulbs (blue+ and actinic), Salifert alk/mag test kits and restocking on 2-part. I will be tempted to buy some new frags with all the holiday specials around the corner, but know I should let things grow some more and continue to rebound from all the hurdles over the last month or so. 

 

Plan for tomorrow is water change and general maintenance. I have a lot of frags of the stylo and digi on the sand bed from previous accidental fraggings.. maybe it is time to bring things in to an LFS for credit.

[WindyCityReefer.]

Post-Black Friday and Cyber Monday update! 😎

 

Today I received my order from Aquacave containing some additional T5 bulbs and test kits. I still have a decent amount of 2-part so I decided against buying more. I made use of the test kits though. In both the 10 gallon and the lagoon I have never tested magnesium. I use Reef Crystals salt which has elevated levels so I never thought to check with weekly water changes. 

 

12/3/2019 Results:

• Alk = 7.0 dKH (Need to bring this up - recent stability in the tank must have increased consumption)
• Calc = 480 ppm (Yet to see any precipitation but, I will be cutting back the doser to get back down to the 420 range)
• Magnesium = 1410 ppm (seems to be normal, maybe slightly elevated?)
• NO3 = 0.2 ppm (added some potassium nitrate to bump back up to 2-3ppm)

 

The more I play around with the ATI hybrid, the more I am tempted with going primarily T5 and supplementing with the LEDs... 4x T5 bulbs is the max worth throwing into the fixture over the current tank. Thoughts @DaveFason? My concern would be adjusting the LED intensities since right now I am running the SPS preset. Also, the current T5 setup from front to back is: blue+, actinic, blue+, coral+. What do you guys think of that arrangement?

 

On another note, I found a HOG.5 Santa-Monica algae scrubber in my family's basement over the Turkey holiday while pulling out the Christmas decorations. It was bought but never used. Debating if I want to give it a try on the lagoon to combat some of my algae issues. It would be nice to naturally remove PO4 and excess nitrate rather than chemical media. Maybe @SantaMonica and others with algae scrubbers could chime in? The tank is still running the undersized IM desktop ghost skimmer.

 

 

There is one more package delivery in the near future. I ordered the item late so it got backordered. Stay tuned for that!

[WindyCityReefer.]

Post-weekend update! 

 

So last Friday I came across a Facebook post from a LFS that had just gotten in a shipment of fish. In the post was the following photo 😁

 

 

A beautiful juvenile regal angel with an aberrant striping pattern near the caudal fin. Quickly messaging the store owner I put the fish on hold. In person, it was no bigger than a quarter! In addition, it was a fraction of the cost of one on LiveAquaria Diver's Den. It was a no-brainer - I had to take him home! Here are some photos during acclimation:

 

                         

 

                         

 

So far he has been very skittish and hangs out in the rockwork. Speaking of which, I also picked up another flat rock that will allow more coral placement. Do not mind the pile of frags currently on it. 

 

 

There was also another frag swap this past weekend which, as we all know I have a weakness for. I won a raffle for Rod's food and also picked up some SPS from Motor City Corals, Premium Polyps and a fellow hobbyist. I will post some photos of those after tomorrow's water change!

 

[ramona]

Beautiful little fish, will be happy in his new home.

How is the Santa Monica ATS working for you?

[WindyCityReefer.]

8 hours ago, ramona said:

Beautiful little fish, will be happy in his new home.

How is the Santa Monica ATS working for you?

I have yet to install the ATS - it is back at my parent's place. Next week I will pick it up and give it a try. I will update once I get it running.

 

The regal angel is sadly on a hunger strike. I have tried EVERYTHING: Rods original blend, Rod's fish eggs, Rod's Pacific plankton, LRS, live brine shrimp, frozen mysis shrimp, ON Angel Formula 1, NLS pellets, frozen cyclops, TDO Chroma Boost reef nutrition pellets, nori and live clams. At this point, I am researching force feeding to see if that is a viable option. I am afraid if I do not do anything, I will watch him waste away. I know regal angels are finicky to get to eat, but this one takes the cake.  

[WindyCityReefer.]

New Year's Update:

 

Sadly, the Regal angel did not make it. I came back from clinic last week to find the cleaner shrimp scavenging what was left of it..

 

On a positive note the tank survived the holidays and corals are really starting to color up! Couple photos I took today. I am struggling with bubble algae so please excuse those in the photos!

 

Milka stylo

 

Sylo and forest fire digi

 

Vivid's Confetti frag coloring up nicely!

 

ASD Rainbow milli - super fuzzy lately

 

Rock flower nem

 

Group shot - I need to find a spot for the Sunfire grafted cap I picked up recently from a frag swap 

 

Willy Wonka's Everlasting Gobstopper - I need a better lens to really capture the colors

 

I have since upped the duration that the T5s are on from 3 to 3.5 hours. My goal is to slowly acclimate the tank/corals to 4-5 hours of T5s. I also brought back the Santa-Monica HOG.5 over the holidays. Still trying to figure out how to install it in the rear compartment. 

 

[mitten_reef]

My stylo and digi are having a hard time keeping up with the acros. I wish they grow and branch out like yours. 
 

everything looks great. Sorry about the angel. 

 

[WindyCityReefer.]

12 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

My stylo and digi are having a hard time keeping up with the acros. I wish they grow and branch out like yours. 
 

everything looks great. Sorry about the angel. 

 

Thanks Rut, I appreciate it! Honestly, I wish I had your problem. My acros do not seem to grow fast enough to compete for space with the stylo and digi. I find that I have to trim back the stylo and digi often to give the acros a fighting chance. 

[lilmatty5dimes]

Tank looks great. Love that acan and blasto.