Lula_Mae Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 9 hours ago, gogeta said: Not tank related but had to share this for the animal lovers. My little sausage Didnt really want a small dog but she's grown on me in cuteness 1 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted October 2, 2017 Author Share Posted October 2, 2017 Tank has hit 4 months old this week! Getting ridiculously easy to keep everything stable so definitely maturing. Update - new frags are doing great - new equipment is working really well, cheap ato is so far doing its job perfectly. - temp has been the most stable it has been in ages and I think the coral is really enjoying that - pretty sure flame angel is nipping at polyps of the sps, have put him up for sale on a local reefing board. Maintenance - changed carbon - cleaned skimmer - scraped back wall acrylic better than normal - vacuumed sandbed only got half done though Water Chemistry alk - 8.6 calcium - 400 magnesium - 1320 salinity - 35ppt nitrates - <2 phosphates - <0.03 2 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted October 8, 2017 Author Share Posted October 8, 2017 Maintence - big tank scrap and clean with magic eraser. I have used the magic eraser always on tanks to get off stubborn algae. I can't seem to remove this small algae near the sand on the glass and it's bothering me!!! Better but still there - stirred sand bed - because I disturbed a lot of algae and detritus I did a 30% water change - maintenance on wavemaker cleaned in vinegar - got a ridiculous amount of pods so took chaeto out and washed in the water change water to remove some pods. Water Chemistry salinity - 35ppt nitrate - 2 phos - 0.03 alk - 9 (using RSCP salt and increased a bit around 1 with bigger water change) calcium - 400 ( have been dosing still working upto the sweet spot) magnesium - 1350 (dosing seems bang on for this) Feeding and Dosing - frozen cube 1/3 per day - amminos 1ml per day - reef roids once per week - alk .5 dkh per day - calcium 5ppm per day - magnesium 2.5ppm per day Update - still looking for a home for the flame angel have noticed more and more nipping at sps - am gonna start removing some lps as I want to continue to store sps in this tank and I'm pretty much out of real estate - i am sure loving the strawberry shortcake so glad I picked it up and cheap! And this little guy was a freebie with the last coral purchase! 3 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted October 11, 2017 Author Share Posted October 11, 2017 Couple new corals. Couldn't get them to frag them so I'm stuck with the colonies 3 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted October 23, 2017 Author Share Posted October 23, 2017 Update Been a little bit, I slacked a little with the tank aswell but nothing went too bad. Minus I had a small alk swing and managed to give my favourite pink stylo stn. Gonna have to frag off the good parts and hope it will make it. I really want a mandarin and I'm still trying to get rid of this flame angel I'm contemplating getting it while the flame is still there but it's an awful lot of fish for this tank. Maintenence - I think this was about 2 weeks without water change normally do it every week - scraped algae build ups pretty half arsed though - sucked up detritus - 30% water change Water Chemistry nitrate - 2 phosphate - 0.03 alk - 8.2 calcium - 400 magnesium - 1350 salinity - 34ppt FTS 3 1 Quote Link to comment
VaporCountry Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 Looks amazing for a four month old tank, I am blown away. So a magic eraser huh? learn something new in this hobby everyday. I will be using this 1 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted October 26, 2017 Author Share Posted October 26, 2017 4 hours ago, VaporCountry said: Looks amazing for a four month old tank, I am blown away. So a magic eraser huh? learn something new in this hobby everyday. I will be using this Hey man, thanks. If you get the magic eraser make sure it's the original. That's the one with no chemicals in it which is safe to use in the aquarium. http://chux.com.au/the-chux-range/chux-magic-eraser-range/magic-eraser-hard-surface-cleaner-8pk/index.html https://www.mrclean.com/en-us/shop-products/magic-erasers/magic-eraser-original 1 Quote Link to comment
VaporCountry Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 3 hours ago, gogeta said: Hey man, thanks. If you get the magic eraser make sure it's the original. That's the one with no chemicals in it which is safe to use in the aquarium. http://chux.com.au/the-chux-range/chux-magic-eraser-range/magic-eraser-hard-surface-cleaner-8pk/index.html https://www.mrclean.com/en-us/shop-products/magic-erasers/magic-eraser-original Awesome thanks for the links to make she I get the right one. Haven't see the first one but the Mr. Clean ones are sold everywhere 1 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted November 1, 2017 Author Share Posted November 1, 2017 Introducing Mandy the mandarin 2 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted November 4, 2017 Author Share Posted November 4, 2017 Maintenence - 20% water change - quickly and half assed glass clean Water Chemistry nitrate - 2 phos - 0.03 alk - 9.6 calcium - 410 magnesium - 1350 salinity - 35 Update - madarin is settling in well - stn from alk issues - fragged the larger sps colonies I bought so they arnt so overwhelming in the tank Issues ALK!! I've been trying to keep my alk at the lower end high 7's, low 8's dkh. Trouble is I'm using RSCP salt which has a higher alk. And I've managed to cause some stn and colour and tissue loss to some of my pieces. I'm gonna have to go back to keeping my alk in the mid 9's to keep it as stable as possible. And hope everything recovers ok. Pictures 3 Quote Link to comment
Cannedfish Posted November 4, 2017 Share Posted November 4, 2017 Super jealous, even with daily water changes and less fish I can't get near 0.03 phosphates are you running GFO? What kind of magic are you using? 1 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted November 4, 2017 Author Share Posted November 4, 2017 14 minutes ago, Cannedfish said: Super jealous, even with daily water changes and less fish I can't get near 0.03 phosphates are you running GFO? What kind of magic are you using? I have more trouble keeping my nitrates down! I've been doing twice weekly 20% changes which help. I know my bioload is well above what a 15g should be with 2 clowns, a flame angel, CBS shrimp and now a mandarin. I run a skimmer that would roughly rate to double the volume and skimming a tad wet where I'm emptying cup every 2-3 days. And a fuge with chaeto in there. I'm halving the chaeto every 3-4 weeks. out of curiousity what are your nitrates? 1 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted November 10, 2017 Author Share Posted November 10, 2017 Update - sps tissue loss from what I assume was an alk swing seems to have ended its bad and starting to recover on pieces that have been affected - Return to higher alk for stability has completed its slow ramp back up - Mandy the mandarin has devoured the pods in the tank and fattened right up Maintenance - cleaned glass pretty half assed - removed 2/3 of chaeto from fuge Water Chemistry nitrates - 3.5 (assuming bioload is getting a bit silly plus missed the small water change mid week) phosphate - 0.03 alk - 9.8 calcium - 440 (up assuming from fragging off my 2 biggest sps colonies, will have to readjust dosing) magnesium - 1350 An angle I don't normally picture/post 1 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted November 10, 2017 Share Posted November 10, 2017 3 hours ago, gogeta said: Update - sps tissue loss from what I assume was an alk swing seems to have ended its bad and starting to recover on pieces that have been affected - Return to higher alk for stability has completed its slow ramp back up - Mandy the mandarin has devoured the pods in the tank and fattened right up Maintenance - cleaned glass pretty half assed - removed 2/3 of chaeto from fuge Water Chemistry nitrates - 3.5 (assuming bioload is getting a bit silly plus missed the small water change mid week) phosphate - 0.03 alk - 9.8 calcium - 440 (up assuming from fragging off my 2 biggest sps colonies, will have to readjust dosing) magnesium - 1350 An angle I don't normally picture/post Those acros had kept the colors really nicely. ? 1 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted November 10, 2017 Author Share Posted November 10, 2017 Oh I also moved the yellow acro from the side to the center! I think it's just not getting smacked with enough par at the edge. I'm pretty sure greens and yellows don't do so well with sub 3-400 par so see how it goes Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted November 12, 2017 Author Share Posted November 12, 2017 Update i decided I'm going to do a 20% water change every day for a week just Incase something was introduced to my system that also contributed to the sps decline just Incase it wasn't the alk swing. my nitrates are staying between 2.5 and 5 which I'm not a fan of. I know my bioload is higher than it should be but I don't want to decrease so increasing export is my only option. Previously I have dose vinegar (choosen over vodka for various reasons) so I'm gonna give that a go. Vinegar Dosing Week 1 - 5ml per day week 2 - 7.5ml per day week 3 - 10ml per day will be assessing nitrates pretty regularly every day or 2, already skimming a bit wetter than average so won't adjust that. Have good surface agitation and agitation so that's not a concern. 1 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted November 13, 2017 Author Share Posted November 13, 2017 Update - 3rd 20% water change today - no adverse effects so far after first 2 doses of vinegar - i swapped my skimmer and refugium chambers around. Water is exact constant level in the middle chamber so skimmer is going there. Plus first chamber may work better as refugium having water flow over the top of chaeto. Time will tell. Also light spilling from refugium light is much less in the first chamber. - nitrate still holding at 4 even after water changes 2 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted November 14, 2017 Author Share Posted November 14, 2017 Update - 3rd and 4th 20% water change complete - 4th dose of vinegar at 5ml no adverse effects if anything and im probably imagining it less film algae is growing on the glass. - trying to get this skimmer set right again is a pain. i forgot how long it took initially to set it up right and get it at the perfect spot. i do think it will do better in the chamber it is in though. - haven't actually tested nitrates since day two of daily water change, will test later today. Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted November 16, 2017 Author Share Posted November 16, 2017 Update - 5th day 20% water change, think i'll call the daily water changes there. If anything was in my system that shouldn't be there it's diluted enough now or if trace elements were missing they are replenished now - 5th day dosing vinegar still at 5ml no adverse effects noticed - tested nitrate after water change still at 4ppm using salifert and Red Sea test kits, assumed with daily 20% water change this should have dropped. . .little puzzled - sps seem to be improving from their little spat, hard to tell till the tips and one stylo that base had stn start to cover again. But tissue loss has stopped. - considering adding another sw-2 for flow, I have More than enough flow roughly 60 X volume. But am considering directional flow may aid with 2 wave makers and return. Than return can simply do surface agitation and wave makers can create flow. FTS 2 Quote Link to comment
Thrassian Atoll Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 Tank looks great. I am going to wait a while before I look into carbon dosing. Interested to see how it goes for you. 1 Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted November 16, 2017 Author Share Posted November 16, 2017 5 minutes ago, TILTON said: Tank looks great. I am going to wait a while before I look into carbon dosing. Interested to see how it goes for you. Thanks man. I've always done it on tanks. It's the lazy reefers way to keep things in check haha. The hardest part is the start. Too much and you'll make it worse. So slow and steady is the key. Takes a while to build up a level that drops nutrients and then you've got to be careful you don't over do it and bring it to a maintenance level of dosing. But when it works for you it's awesome Quote Link to comment
Thrassian Atoll Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 23 minutes ago, gogeta said: Thanks man. I've always done it on tanks. It's the lazy reefers way to keep things in check haha. The hardest part is the start. Too much and you'll make it worse. So slow and steady is the key. Takes a while to build up a level that drops nutrients and then you've got to be careful you don't over do it and bring it to a maintenance level of dosing. But when it works for you it's awesome I heard stopping is also bad too right? how many ml do you think you will end up dosing daily after the ramp up is complete? Quote Link to comment
gogeta Posted November 16, 2017 Author Share Posted November 16, 2017 13 minutes ago, TILTON said: I heard stopping is also bad too right? how many ml do you think you will end up dosing daily after the ramp up is complete? Yeah man like most things in this hobby nothing good happens quick. So you ramp up and down slowly. Hard to say it just depends on how the system responds. So regular testing is key to determine when you've reached a Maintenence dose. Quote Link to comment
Thrassian Atoll Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 55 minutes ago, gogeta said: Yeah man like most things in this hobby nothing good happens quick. So you ramp up and down slowly. Hard to say it just depends on how the system responds. So regular testing is key to determine when you've reached a Maintenence dose. It's going to be quite a bit though right? Like over 30ml a day? Are you following the dosing procedure? Think I have seen one somewhere. nevermind, it's not even close to that much haha. You are dosing a ton according to this. Quote Link to comment
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