ADA - the 2 island reef

[Tamberav]

Dino loves macroalgae, pref's to grow there than anywhere else. 

[Andreww]

Should I let it?

I was planning to scrape the sump clean with a 15% water change but I read dinos like water changes like they feed off the trace elements?

Dosed 1ml PO4. Now it’s at 0.03.

Forget raising phosphate with food. That doesn’t work for me and I’m polluting the tank. My clowns and Anthias are obese.

[Tamberav]

If it is just cheato, you could pull it, clean the sump and turn the light off. Get some new cheato later. 

 

I can't promise dino will not show up in display after. It is in the sump because conditions are more favorable there. 

 

When I had dino i drained the water and ran it through a small micron sock, then replaced the water. 

[Andreww]

32 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

If it is just cheato, you could pull it, clean the sump and turn the light off. Get some new cheato later. 

 

I can't promise dino will not show up in display after. It is in the sump because conditions are more favorable there. 

 

When I had dino i drained the water and ran it through a small micron sock, then replaced the water. 

I’m thinking to do another 3 day blackout after cleaning the sump completely and changing some water and go from there...😑

[ramona]

I wonder if a vortex diatom filter would help in your case    

[Andreww]

Ramona, I’ve heard about them but never ran one.

At this point I’m going to take the “natural” approach and go forward with the sump complete cleaning and throwing out of the chaeto , vinegar bath the pumps and skimmer and a water change along with a 3-4 day blackout.

 

[Andreww]

On a side note, something weird has been happening for the past 3 days but I haven’t given it much thought until tonight.

 

After refugium lights turned on, about 15 min after that, a nasty brown bacterial bloom out of nowhere clouded the tank...I’m like whooa what is that???!!! It lasted for only about 30 minutes total. Then water clear like before.

 

That happened 3 days in a row.

 

Looked for any dead fish, snails etc...everyone is alive. I only have like 3-4 small snails and 2 larger turbos besides my fish.

They were all grazing and swimming just fine.

Fish aren’t breathing hard.

The water does smell somewhat foul...

 

All I can think of is this..not necessarily true but the best I can come up with:

Dinos in the sump (lots of them) react somehow to the very bright light in the refugium and spark a bacterial bloom of sorts. But only lasts a half an hour?

 

Someone please give me a good reason why this is happening before I lose my mind😧

[Andreww]

Also decided to hold off on the canopy build until I figure out exactly the T5 fixture measurements and cable management plan as well as the ReefBrite position .

[Andreww]

Dinos are gone after 4 days of blackout. I’m gonna keep the sump clean and dark and running carbon.

Unfortunately, the ATI fixture isn’t here yet. USPS it the worst carrier , no kidding. Delaying the package and not even giving you an idea when it’s going to get delivered. I surely hope it’ll be here by Saturday.

 

Nitrates are staying between 3-4 ppm...raised to 5.

What I can’t explain is where all the Phosphate is going to. I dosed from 0 to 0.03. In less than 24 hours it’s back at 0.

 

Had to dose again to raise it back up.

 

Test is low range ELOS. Colors are very easy to read and the shades very distinguishable so reading it is not a problem and it is clearly getting depleted but by what?

[Andreww]

Can’t catch a break. Monti eating nudibranchs after dinoflagellates. 

Looks like them at least....

Only saw them on this frag. The other montis are on the other rock a few inches away from this one. I’m hoping they don’t crawl on sand or float in the current do they? Lol

 

Should I just toss this frag? 60$ out the window. Hate throwing money away....I’m scared to dip it just to have them come back and eat the other montis.

And I was wondering why this piece was losing color. 

This was the Lantana monti.

[Andreww]

Didn’t want to wait another minute.

Broke it off the rock and tossed it along with the other 2 rainbow montis that weren’t doing well at all.

Nudibranchs were definitely present along with egg sacks upon closer inspection on the countertop with light on them.

That’s the scary part. The eggs....

 

Didn’t see any nudibranchs on the rainbows but not taking any chances. Gone!

 

I guess we always risk it when there’s no quarantine tank and we rely simply on dips and careful inspection. 

[JavaJacketOC]

9 hours ago, Andreww said:

Didn’t want to wait another minute.

Broke it off the rock and tossed it along with the other 2 rainbow montis that weren’t doing well at all.

Nudibranchs were definitely present along with egg sacks upon closer inspection on the countertop with light on them.

That’s the scary part. The eggs....

 

Didn’t see any nudibranchs on the rainbows but not taking any chances. Gone!

 

I guess we always risk it when there’s no quarantine tank and we rely simply on dips and careful inspection. 

 

Sucks, I've delt with this before...dipped the frag every day and use airline tubing to get the eggs off rocks. annoying but if you're diligent you'll get them out.

[Andreww]

The Sunpower is up and running.

Wow, what a nice coverage . I don’t miss the hydra shimmer at all.

I tried a few bulb combinations with 2 blue+ and aquablue special, coral+, giesemann actinic, etc but the best combo that is pleasing to my eyes and makes the coral pop is the 3 blue + and 1 coral+. A nice whitish blue light with some red undertone.

 

[JavaJacketOC]

Looks great!

[Andreww]

3 minutes ago, JavaJacketOC said:

Looks great!

Thank you. Since the fixture is only 6.5 inches from the water , I also appreciate looking at the tank from the couch and not have the light blinding my eyes.

 

My calculations after watching the BRS PAR test on a 4x24” sunpower at exactly the same height but on a wider tank (my tank is only 12” front to back and 14” high), gives me about 250-350 PAR all over the tank. 

 

I still want to rent a PAR meter but I’m happy that I at least have an idea of what PAR I have in my size tank at a certain height.

 

 

[Andreww]

Played around with the bulbs some more and for now I’m gonna stick to this format from front to back :

ATI Blue+

ATI Coral+

Giesemann super actinic

ATI Blue +

 

The super actinic makes all the difference and I will use that along with a blue+ for dawn/dusk effect .

2 blue + for dusk/dawn effect was too strong.

[teenyreef]

The light looks great and its a nice bonus that the white balance doesn't get blown out too bad in the photograph.

 

I have a hybrid Nanobox Duo light over my 30g frag tank. I run two Blue+ and two Coral+, but I have the LEDs to fine tune the spectrum and make it more blue in the morning and evening. It's good to know the Gieseman also helps!

[Andreww]

41 minutes ago, teenyreef said:

The light looks great and its a nice bonus that the white balance doesn't get blown out too bad in the photograph.

 

I have a hybrid Nanobox Duo light over my 30g frag tank. I run two Blue+ and two Coral+, but I have the LEDs to fine tune the spectrum and make it more blue in the morning and evening. It's good to know the Gieseman also helps!

The Giesemann does help with the pop and it’s especially noticeable in my green tip pink birds nest . Aquablue special washes out colors way too much.

 

I don’t have a purple + to compare to the existing coral+ but some people say it’s too purple. Will probably try it in the future.

 

Overall I’m very happy with the current combo.

Oh and I still play around with the white balance. iPhone 7+ is ok in low light but nothing to get excited about.

 

[Andreww]

I’m starting to see dinos forming again .😔

Nitrate and phosphate have leveled out and are detectable without any more dosing.

 

So I removed about half the sand thinking spores could have settled in the substrate for sure.

Next step is to order some rock from reef cleaners and possibly some pods...lots of them.

I don’t have enough rock for the water volume . Possibly around half a pound per gallon. I hope that adding more rock will result in more surface area for bacteria to grow and in turn outcompete dinos.

 

One good thing is that corals have started to really color back up well and growing since the addition of the T5. Kinda crazy if I think about it cuz it’s been only a few days but my eyes don’t lie.

 

Also built some contraption on the side of the tank to hold the dosing container, fish food, and to relocate the extension cords under the box. Kinda ugly looking but more organized until I figure something else out to hide the wires.

 

Well that’s it for now....

[Lula_Mae]

10 minutes ago, Andreww said:

I’m starting to see dinos forming again .😔

Nitrate and phosphate have leveled out and are detectable without any more dosing.

 

So I removed about half the sand thinking spores could have settled in the substrate for sure.

Next step is to order some rock from reef cleaners and possibly some pods...lots of them.

I don’t have enough rock for the water volume . Possibly around half a pound per gallon. I hope that adding more rock will result in more surface area for bacteria to grow and in turn outcompete dinos.

 

One good thing is that corals have started to really color back up well and growing since the addition of the T5. Kinda crazy if I think about it cuz it’s been only a few days but my eyes don’t lie.

 

Also built some contraption on the side of the tank to hold the dosing container, fish food, and to relocate the extension cords under the box. Kinda ugly looking but more organized until I figure something else out to hide the wires.

 

Well that’s it for now....

Rather than dry rock, I would suggest live rock if you can (cure it in a bucket or something) to add better biodiversity.  I suspect dry rock use may play a role in the proliferation of dinos in the hobby in recent years (and in my own tanks).  Also look into live phyto, I've gotten pods and live phyto from Algae Barn before to try to help battle dinos.

[Andreww]

35 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Rather than dry rock, I would suggest live rock if you can (cure it in a bucket or something) to add better biodiversity.  I suspect dry rock use may play a role in the proliferation of dinos in the hobby in recent years (and in my own tanks).  Also look into live phyto, I've gotten pods and live phyto from Algae Barn before to try to help battle dinos.

All my rock was live, but removed about half over the last 2 years. My Dino problem started after disturbing the sand bed.

 

I will never leave a sand bed un-touched for months ever again. 

 

My LFS sells live rock, but shapes are not desirable and soaked, weighs a ton and it’s not cheap either.

 

Was thinking to just put some reefcleaner base rock with the live one and seed it that way.

Ill look into live phyto from algae barn. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Nelson]

On 1/11/2019 at 8:21 AM, Andreww said:

Dinos are gone after 4 days of blackout. I’m gonna keep the sump clean and dark and running carbon.

Unfortunately, the ATI fixture isn’t here yet. USPS it the worst carrier , no kidding. Delaying the package and not even giving you an idea when it’s going to get delivered. I surely hope it’ll be here by Saturday.

 

Nitrates are staying between 3-4 ppm...raised to 5.

What I can’t explain is where all the Phosphate is going to. I dosed from 0 to 0.03. In less than 24 hours it’s back at 0.

 

Had to dose again to raise it back up.

 

Test is low range ELOS. Colors are very easy to read and the shades very distinguishable so reading it is not a problem and it is clearly getting depleted but by what?

Hey, keep dosing phosphate. It is completely normal it goes to 0 in like 24 hours, because a lot of it is consumed directly by the Dinos. I've seen more posts from people experiencing this on the "are you tired of battling..." thread on reef2reef. Good N:P is key. Eventually copepods will start to show up again and the Dinos will go away.

Nice tank (and light)! 🙂

 

Edit: now I see you have a clam, he will take up phosphates and nitrates as well. How is the clam doing with the Dinos?

[Andreww]

1 hour ago, Nelson said:

Hey, keep dosing phosphate. It is completely normal it goes to 0 in like 24 hours, because a lot of it is consumed directly by the Dinos. I've seen more posts from people experiencing this on the "are you tired of battling..." thread on reef2reef. Good N:P is key. Eventually copepods will start to show up again and the Dinos will go away.

Nice tank (and light)! 🙂

 

Edit: now I see you have a clam, he will take up phosphates and nitrates as well. How is the clam doing with the Dinos?

Clam is doing great. Doesn’t seem to be affected one bit. But I didn’t have crazy growth of dinos yet.

For now PO4 is sitting at 0.03. Might increase it some more. Maybe GHA will outcompete them.

I know once my coral grows like mad there’s less chance for the nasties to show up but I’m not there yet.

 

[JavaJacketOC]

10 hours ago, Andreww said:

I’m starting to see dinos forming again .😔

Nitrate and phosphate have leveled out and are detectable without any more dosing.

 

So I removed about half the sand thinking spores could have settled in the substrate for sure.

Next step is to order some rock from reef cleaners and possibly some pods...lots of them.

I don’t have enough rock for the water volume . Possibly around half a pound per gallon. I hope that adding more rock will result in more surface area for bacteria to grow and in turn outcompete dinos.

 

One good thing is that corals have started to really color back up well and growing since the addition of the T5. Kinda crazy if I think about it cuz it’s been only a few days but my eyes don’t lie.

 

Also built some contraption on the side of the tank to hold the dosing container, fish food, and to relocate the extension cords under the box. Kinda ugly looking but more organized until I figure something else out to hide the wires.

 

Well that’s it for now....

 

 

This looks great! 

 

Get a brighwell brick or media vs more rock. I got 3 media bricks from a friend's established tank and I added 5 marinepure blocks for a reefer 170/ The media does so much for stability and can harbor so much bacteria it'll probably help a lot more than rock.

[Andreww]

1 minute ago, JavaJacketOC said:

 

 

This looks great! 

 

Get a brighwell brick or media vs more rock. I got 3 media bricks from a friend's established tank and I added 5 marinepure blocks for a reefer 170/ The media does so much for stability and can harbor so much bacteria it'll probably help a lot more than rock.

Justin I don’t know why I haven’t thought about it. Thanks for reminding me. I know BRS has a video on marinepure blocks. Time to re-play it...

I believe the live rock benefit is that it already contains the bacteria and you don’t have to wait for it to colonize new media or rock but I’m definitely looking into the media blocks.

Right now I’m lacking the space and motivation to cure 30 pounds of live rock for weeks.

If all else fails I just might...