Firefish's 10G rimless "The Island" - Tank transferred to 14g bow front

[banasophia]

And the link in your signature worked! Tank is looking good.
 

That totally sucks about the car accident and major bummer about the car and new tank… thankful no one was hurt! We once scored an awesome but huge computer desk from Craigslist, had to rent a uhaul, drive an hour, and get 2 extra guys to come along to help us move it… we hit our first stop sign and the computer was not secured well enough in the back of the uhaul so it tipped over and was completely ruined… so disappointing. 
 

I really like the bow front though! Looking forward to pics showing what you come up with for the background. 

[Firefish15]

Ah, that’s disappointing. DOAs always suck, whatever they are. 

[Firefish15]

Hey all! Here’s the link to my new tank build! 
It will still be a while before I get that one wet though, so updates on the 10g will be posted here for a while yet.
I’d like to wait to move all the livestock over until the 10g is nice and healthy anyways. 

[Firefish15]

Did some testing on the 10g today.
NO3 - 5ppm

PO4 - 0

Ca - 360ppm

kH - 8.2

Sg - 1.025

 

With my current lack of nutrients, it didn’t make sense to do a water change, so I just cleaned the glass, manually removed hair algae and cyano, stirred the sand bed, and turkey basted the rocks. 
Dosing phytoplankton, reef roids, and Microbacter7.

Also recently bolstered the CUC with 1 trochus, 2 cerith, and 2 female emerald crabs. 

They’re getting down to business!

 

FTS right after cleaning, corals still angry.

[Firefish15]

Welp, two days later the cyano is back strong. 

 

Maybe my stirring up the sand bed unleashed more nutrients? 
I’m thinking that when I transfer to the 14, I’ll get a new 20lb bag of sand. Then for the sake of diversity and micro fauna move a cup of the old sand bed over. 
At any rate, this battle is getting frustrating again.

[billygoat]

It seems strange to me that cyanobacteria would appear in such abundance in an aquarium as mature as this one. Have you changed anything recently other than just going away for awhile? New salt, new water source for top-off, that kind of thing?

[Firefish15]

1 hour ago, billygoat said:

New salt, new water source for top-off, that kind of thing?

Not really. Maybe four months ago I switched from Instant Ocean to IO: Reef Crystals.

Still using my Aquatic Life RO Buddy with the DI attachment. Taking a sample in today to get a TDS reading. 
Still feeding LRS Reef Frenzy Nano, Omega One marine flakes, and TDO Chromaboost pellets. And some Reef Roids. 
Maybe it’s time to run some carbon or Chemipure? I’ve never used any chemical filtration on this tank, but it might be time to try it. 

[gena]

Definitely run some carbon.  I used to use Chemipure all of the time and my current tank has it running as well.  Now (after a 3 year break from the hobby) I'm reading that chemipure can take out so much that you start having issues with Dino's.  In the past, I would say yes def the chemipure...but now I need to do more research.  I don't remember reading anything bad about straight carbon so I would give that a try.

 

I think the biggest thing I've read about cyano is, besides getting your nutrients under control, up your water flow.  That has always helped me in the past as well.

You should pick up a TDS meter.  You can get them pretty cheap online.  I think around $10, last I looked.  Then you always have quick and easy access to knowing what the TDS is out of your RODI system.  That was one of my best pieces of equipment when I was making my own water.

 

Good luck with this!!!!!

[Firefish15]

Welp, some revealing information. The TDS of my RODI is 7. @gena I will get a TDS reader to keep at home. 😅

Went to order new cartridges and membranes for my RODI, but an entirely new one was cheaper. So got that coming. Will also run some carbon.

[gena]

2 minutes ago, Firefish15 said:

Welp, some revealing information. The TDS of my RODI is 7. @gena I will get a TDS reader to keep at home. 😅

Went to order new cartridges and membranes for my RODI, but an entirely new one was cheaper. So got that coming. Will also run some carbon.

Yay!  Hopefully you can get this under control quickly, with this new information!!!!!!  

[Firefish15]

Well, I think there’s been a bit of progress since adding the carbon yesterday. The cyano is no longer one solid matt, there are thin patches and holes appearing. It’s also peeling off the front pane of glass. 
I’ll do a water change this weekend as well to help things along. 

 

Still not pretty, but I’m feeling hopeful. Inside, the corals look decent. The cyano covers the zoas and clove polyps, but doesn’t seem to affect anything else too much. 
The cabbage leather seems to be enjoying the higher flow from the new power head quite a bit. It sloughed a layer yesterday, and it’s pretty expanded and ruffled today.

The discosomas and hairy mushroom don’t like the higher flow, but I think it’s necessary at this point.

[Firefish15]

Did a pretty thorough algae/cyano removal, glass cleaning, and siphoning today.

I also traded in some frags that were living in the sand bed for perpetuity, used that store credit to buy a 20lb. bag of Fiji pink sand for when I move to the 14g. 
Tank is looking pretty good for now, hopefully it can stay that way a little while. The new trochus may have laid eggs on the back wall, so left those alone. 

[billygoat]

I've always liked this aquascape. Are you planning on preserving it when you transfer to the 14g?

[Firefish15]

5 minutes ago, billygoat said:

I've always liked this aquascape. Are you planning on preserving it when you transfer to the 14g?

Yes, the sentimental Kenya rocks are coming over intact. 🙂 

I like this aquascape a lot too, and I think it’ll look even better with just a little bit more negative space around it. 
Hopefully I can avoid cramming frags everywhere too.

[Firefish15]

Hey everyone, thank you for following this tank journey. Hopefully this journal helps someone avoid at least one mistake or provides a little bit of insight.

 

The tank transfer to the 14g bow front went smoothly, and things are looking great. Corals are happy, and there’s barely a trace of cyano a week later. Crazy how much detritus was in the old sand bed! 
 

Be sure to follow the new tank here!