MrObscura's Nuvo 10... still reefing.

[MrObscura]

Some coral are struggling and I'm battling a bit of cyano, but I probably exaggerated how bad the tank looked... 

 

But the struggle is real and I don't want to document things only when they're going well, so here's my tenuis losing some flesh and I think my tort is as well. 

 

[Daniel91]

Does not look that bad.

Can we get a close up of the digitata? One of my favs.

[MrObscura]

23 minutes ago, Daniel91 said:

Does not look that bad.

Can we get a close up of the digitata? One of my favs.

It's a bubble gum, but it's cool in that it's more like the elusive pink smoothie digi with a blue base and bright true pink polyps. Whereas bubblegums tend to just be forest fires with a little blue. 

[MrObscura]

Just picked up some WWC Illuminates. Got the best coral deal I've gotten so far, by far. 

[MrObscura]

Tenuis has pretty much already regrown the flesh it lost, so idk what that was about. The tort is still bare on the tip but hopefully it'll recover as well. The only thing I can think of is when I dosed a little Alk I did it to close to them? 

 

Other than that tanks doing pretty well, I'm still been going back and forth between adding a skimmer or a algae reactor just for added nutrient export. I keep flip flopping on which one. 

 

Anyway... Illuminati 

[MrObscura]

Nothing much new going on, tanks looking pretty good(other than the same few issues). I'll be adding a reef glass skimmer shortly and other than that nothing much is planned until new corals are added probably next month some time. 

 

I did mount the illuminati, so heres a few pics of the tank during both light periods, the illuminati, and young zoa garden. 

[MrObscura]

Weekly water change with a cold sucks.

 

I've switched a couple chalices around because one is bleaching, so I'll have to keep an eye on them. 

 

I also noticed the tenuis has lost a little flesh again on the tips. It's weird, it happened a little while ago, then it quickly grew it all back. Now it's losing some again. The torts still missing some as well, but the milli and pc Rainbow are good, So, idk... 

 

Besides that a couple montis still refuse to color up and show PE. But on a bright note, the illuminati are already sprouting new polyps, the duncan has 3 new heads starting, and my one acan has a bunch of new heads. 

 

Oh and the bottle of hannah alkalinity reagent I just got is innacurate by like a dkh. 

 

Anyway, I'm hoping that between regular feeding, weekly water changes and adding the reef Glass Skimmer things will start maturing and balance out since params are all in line and there's nothing else I can do. 

[MrObscura]

Umm... turns out the reagent wasn't off and my Alk actually did spike to 9.6 somehow. I have no idea how, but it might explain the tenuis losing some flesh. Fortunately, it seems pretty tough and just like last time has already pretty much regrown it all. 

 

I'm still only losing like .2dkh a day so instead of kalk I might just dose a little Alk once a day to keep it stable for now. 

 

Anyway, the Tort still has a bare tip though and a couple montis still aren't happy for some reason. But other than that, a little cyzno, and the orange chalice bleaching a bit things aren't too bad. I hoping things will really come around when I get the skimmer and up my clean up crew. I'm also probably going to add acropower to my regimen. 

[LogicalReefs]

1 hour ago, MrObscura said:

Umm... turns out the reagent wasn't off and my Alk actually did spike to 9.6 somehow. I have no idea how, but it might explain the tenuis losing some flesh. Fortunately, it seems pretty tough and just like last time has already pretty much regrown it all. 

 

I'm still only losing like .2dkh a day so instead of kalk I might just dose a little Alk once a day to keep it stable for now. 

 

Anyway, the Tort still has a bare tip though and a couple montis still aren't happy for some reason. But other than that, a little cyzno, and the orange chalice bleaching a bit things aren't too bad. I hoping things will really come around when I get the skimmer and up my clean up crew. I'm also probably going to add acropower to my regimen. 

Have you considered doing like 1 or 2 gallon water changes every day or so? I’ve seen a few people on here do that and their tanks look amazing. Especially @Cannedfish tank! Going to have to try that method out myself since it looks like a good method of nutrient export and keeping parameters pretty stable. 

[MrObscura]

I honestly don't see that doing anything a decent size weekly wc won't do. 

 

I mean it might help you keep from dosing for a little while, but it's really just a more involved way of doing it. 

 

 

 

 

[MrObscura]

About to do my weekly water change, so here's a January FTS. 

 

[teenyreef]

The FTS looks good! How do you like the scape now that things are starting to grow in?

[MrObscura]

I'm liking it, my vision is actually on track for the most part. I look foward to it completely filling out and each section being completely dominated by certain corals... i.e. the acan garden, zoa garden, ric, chalice, etc. Then the upper section dominated by acros and branching sps. 

 

And like I mentioned, I'll probably end up clearing the sand in the front, filling it with more zoas and Rics. 

 

Anyway, next step is upping the cuc, and getting the skimmer. I'm hoping that should really get things on the right track, clearing up the few issues. And between that and staring acropower, along with my regual feedings, the few pissy corals will hopefully perk up. 

[MrObscura]

Just finished the weekly WC. Nothing much new to report. The same corals are still struggling while the rest are good. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it, with some acros struggling, but the milli and pc rainbow looking good, encrusting montis struggling while digi looks good...

 

Params were all good as well. 

Alk 8.3(think im just going to stick with blue bucket and run 8-8.5)

Cal 425

Mag 1380

No3 0 - 5

Po4 0 - .03

 

I'm still just going to chalk it up to the tank still being relatively young.

 

I did add more cuc from reef cleaners and the skimmer and acropower I ordered should be here soon, so we'll see how things go. They are going well enough that I don't think there's any major issues with the tank, so some new corals might be in the near future. At this point it might just be a bit of survival of the fittest. 

[MrObscura]

Weekly WC time again, nothing new for better or worse. I have added a reef glass and it's been running for 6 days and this is what it produced. 

 

It's weird what this hobby does to people... Getting them exited about, and taking pictures of, foul waste. 

 

 

 

[MrObscura]

Well, it's that time again(weekly WC night). Things aren't going too well, the tank has a bit of a cyano problem and while it's not overrun it is talking a toll on corals and I'll probably lose a number of sps. And some smothered zoas possibly. 

 

I've cut down on feeding, and added a skimmer, but there hasn't been any improvement. In a further effort to try and get things on track I've ordered some microbacter7 to try to out compete the cyano with good bacterial and I also started to go bare bottom. 

 

I was going up just pull out all the sand tonight, but by the time I removed just a bit in front I already pulled out too much water and sucked up a bunch of snails. So, going foward I need to figure out a way to remove sand without pulling out so much water and shift it for snails. 

 

I may just remove it from the front and sides where I plan to put corals and leave the rest of the sand. IDK... 

[MrObscura]

Just realized something, I have a rodi unit. I could have been doing large daily water changes until the cyano was gone. Damn it. I'm an idiot. 

[LogicalReefs]

Have you tried chemiclean?

[MrObscura]

Thought about it, but rather avoid chemicals. 

[teenyreef]

I've had good luck with Chemiclean but I also prefer to avoid it if possible. Plus it doesn't address the underlying issues, although it does give you a little breathing room to catch up.

 

When I removed my sand bed, I did it in stages over a couple weeks. As for too much water coming out, I just suck out most of the water into a big bucket as I sucked up the sand. The I let the bucket sit for five or ten minutes and poured off the water on the top half of the bucket into a clean bucket. That water was mostly clear, and I then poured it back in the tank. 

 

On the other hand, if things are really bad, a 50% water change would probably be a good thing as long as your new water is reasonably close to the parameters of your old water.

[MrObscura]

Yea, I'll either adf the water back to the tank or mix up some new water and do it that way. 

 

The bigger pita is figuring out how to seperate the sand and snails. 

[MrObscura]

Getting there. I used a turkey baster to suck up a little sand at a time to avoid sucking up a lot of water and snails. Then I did another big WC just because. 

 

I may just leave it like this, the front and sides are bare to place corals, and where there won't be corals they'll still be sand. We'll see. 

 

As for any corals I may lose, it sucks, but I'll use the opportunity to get something even cooler. Especially since I run such heavy blues now, I need to get gorals that fluorescent. 

 

 

[MrObscura]

Well, it's chemiclean time. Despite cutting down feeding and adding a skimmer and dosing microbacter the tanks struggling and I don't want to risk losing more corals. 

 

I tested all params and everything is in line. Though no3 has raised so maybe that means the cyano is dying off and running out of nutrients. The only thing that could have caused the cyano outbreak was starting the benereef food. So, hopefully cutting that out and going back to my regular routine, along with a dose of chemiclean will get things back on track. 

 

Moral of the story... If it ain't broke don't fix it. Which is advice I've given and yet didn't followed myself. 

[Tamberav]

Sorry to hear of your troubles, happens to us all. I had some stability issues which lead to a dino spell and some losses. Things will bounce back for you too. 

[MrObscura]

Still struggling. Despite a dose of chemiclean cyano is still holding on. It's not a crazy outbreak, or even thick mats, but just stings of it that attach to corals. 

 

This sucks, went from everything doing pretty good, to this. Chalices are fine, as are mushrooms, and acans are alright, but everything else is either not opening much, if at all, or even worse, straight up dying.