skyscraper’s PicO III Reboot (7 Month Update 4/8, new photos)

[skyscraper2290]

2 hours ago, DaveFason said:

Looking great. Love seeing the goby/shrimp pair peaking out. 😄 

-Dave

Thanks Dave! They are such an awesome addition to a tank, so fun to watch!

 

1 hour ago, shaner014 said:

Really great work! Excellent updates each time and great pics!!

 

I just started cycling my 20G cube AIO (WaterBox) and am hoping to pick your brain a bit! 

 

What settings are you running on the Duo? I have the LPS+ preset loaded up for now, but may adjust the midday levels a bit to lessen the 20k look (add to white and subtract from blue). Also, after consulting @DaveFasonI lowered my fan percentage to %60 to quiet it down a bit. Is the fan loud at all to you at the %80 preset? Mine sounded like a laptop fan when they kick on. Not bad, but certainly a lot louder than the AI Prime I had originally setup.

 

Sorry if I missed it, are you using any lid?

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

Thank you! I appreciate that a ton! I will have to take a look at your build, I like the waterbox aio's a lot. As for the settings on my light mine are a bit different because this is one of the original duos from back in 2014 so it is only 2 channels. I did have Dave upgrade to the newer LED panels when he first started adding the Lime LED. I also just got the BlueFish controller added on when I got the light back. I am running my Morning settings at 16% White/Lime and 52% Blue, my Midday is set to 29% White/lime and 76% Blue, and then my Evening settings are 13% White/Lime and 50% Blue. I have really like the balance and the color I have been getting with these settings. I feel like it has a nice balance and it doesn't make the tank look super blue. I still have my fan running at 80% but I don't think it's that loud and doesn't bother me at all (I sleep with a huge fan running all night), I did just try it out at 60% and it definitely made a noticeable difference where I can barely hear it anymore. Then for a lid I do have a glass starfire lid that I ordered with the tank originally. I personally think a lid is a must to at least make sure you don't have any jumpers, you can do glass or one of the mesh lid kits. With the glass lid though I do enjoy the lower amount of evaporation I get, probably around 1G/week right now. I hope that helps! If you have more questions I am happy to answer them!

[skyscraper2290]

Finally got around to grabbing a bunch of photos. Since putting the Duo over the tank all of the corals have reacted really well to it, coloring is getting better and seeing new growth on everything except the acans at this point. Have kept the same maintenance routine and will most likely continue it. I am probably going to pick up a Hanna alk checker so I can monitor alk easier than using the Red Sea Kit. From my testing this far the tank is using about .25kh per day so the twice a week WC are handling that just fine. My alk has been at 8.4 after my WC’s. Anyways, onto the photos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[skyscraper2290]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Reefkid88]

I'm glad to see everything is growing good after the DUO upgrade. Everything looks super healthy !! You just letting things grow out from here or you going to continue to add stuff ?! 

 

If I may about to Acan's,honestly if you want them to grow,this is what I did... I would broadcast feed them maybe 1-2 times though the week,and then pre-waterchange I would shut the pump off and spot feed every head,now for me it was a process I had probably 100-120 heads of them to feed,but growth EXPLODED after I started gut-loading them. I was feeding a mixture of LPS MAX,Reef Roids,Red Sea Amino's and Polyp Booster. Now for you doing 2 water changes a week I would say just feed them heavy a few minutes before the water change,and when you go to clean the rocks or whatever off,just such up the leftover food around them. My pods used to basically attack the Acan's trying to get tiny pieces of the mixture. 

[skyscraper2290]

That’s what I pretty much do, I do large feeding before my water change and will both broadcast feed and spot feed the corals. Then I do a 3rd feeding during the week and spot feed them again. I’ll take a look at some of the other foods you were using and maybe that will help!

[Reefkid88]

Oh you should be good then,here shortly you should see some growth start to happen here soon. Once they start popping off head its game on. 

 

 I woukd consider these:

 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-reef-chili-coral-food.html

 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/polyp-booster-polyplab.html

 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/polyp-lab-reef-roids-coral-food.html

 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/af-growth-boost-amino-acids-aquaforest.html

 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/af-lps-food-aquaforest.html

 

[skyscraper2290]

Thanks! I’ll check all of those out! As for adding more to the tank I’m primarily in growth mode now. I might add a couple more corals but only ones that really catch my eye, and no more green haha! I have been thinking a orange or gold pavona.

[skyscraper2290]

So went and picked up a frag of Golden pavona last night. I realized I have what will turn into too much green. Any corals I pick up from here on out will definitely not be green haha. 

 

 

 

I still have been having issues with one of my hammers not expanding at all. I have moved it to 4 different spots but regardless of where I put it I just can’t get it looking better. Tested everything today to see if there was another issue but all numbers were in line. Ammonia was at 0 as was nitrite. Nitrate was at 2, alk was at 7.7 (been keeping mine between 7.6-8.4), mag was at 1300, and calcium was at 405. PH was at 8, salinity at 1.025, and temp at 79. At a bit of a loss and don’t think the hammer will hang on too much longer.

 

 

 

Then I assume these sponges I am seeing are part of the maturation process of the tank and will most likely just scrape them off during my next WC because I don’t want them to affect coral growth. Unless someone tells me differently. 

 

 

 

Tank is looking good though and besides the one hammer everything else is showing growth and is fully opened, not even a single zoa polyp is closed. My alk and calcium might be a bit low. It seems that consumption is increasing so might have to start looking at doing some manual dosing. I’ll start testing daily for the the next week to figure out the consumption rates and can come up with a dosing starting point. 

[skyscraper2290]

Picked up a frag of the blue clove polyps yesterday, won it off of an auction. Right now I’m planning on mounting it on my back wall so it can’t spread onto the rocks at all.

 

[skyscraper2290]

So did my normal WC today and did some before and after testing. Before the WC my alk measured at 7.7 and after it said it jumped all the way up to 8.7. I don’t think a 15% WC would have caused such a big jump but haven’t done the math to figure out what I should have seen. The RSCP salt mixed to 11 which I tested before adding it to the tank. Calcium jumped from 400 to 440 after the WC with the water mixing to 450 so I think it was the tests weren’t accurate, mostly do to human error I assume. 

 

I have probably a little little less than half a small bucket left of the RSCP and plan on switching to blue bucket next which mixes at levels close to what I want to maintain. I would like to keep alk closer and more consistently at 8.5 to 9. I picked up Red Sea foundation A and B so I can begin dosing ca and alk after I get the daily usage figured out. Right now it will be all manual dosing until I decide if I want to get a doser but don’t have a ton of room to put one. All the corals were looking great besides my one hammer and an acro frag that has been showing STN which is another reason I don’t think alk jumped 1 full point but maybe I will see the reaction tomorrow.

 

I did a 15 minute iodine dip today as well on the hammer that has been having issues. Seems even more pissed off than normal so time will tell. I decided while I was dipping the hammer I pulled the acro that had some STN and dipped that as well. Probably shouldn’t have because I think it’s going to do more harm than good, but time will also tell. 

 

While I had my hands in the tank already I got the Golden pavona mounted where I want it and also put the blue clove polyps on the back wall to see if they will spread there. A frag of encrusting monti broke in half when I was clipping the plug and it got knocked off so also got that remounted in a new spot and already shows polyp extension. 

 

Sorry for the the long winded photoless post but just want everything documented while I am about to make some changes to the tank. Oooo also forgot I had some points built up on my amazon credit card and ended up ordering the alk Hanna checker with them.

 

 

[ninjamyst]

i mix half IO and half RC to keep alk down.  i run my alk aroun 6-7.  

[skyscraper2290]

And haven’t seen any issues with your euphyillia at that? 

[ninjamyst]

5 minutes ago, skyscraper2290 said:

And haven’t seen any issues with your euphyillia at that? 

nope, 6 - 7 is pretty normal i thought...

[skyscraper2290]

57 minutes ago, ninjamyst said:

nope, 6 - 7 is pretty normal i thought...

I was just reading in a few places that hammers can see retraction under 8... can’t remember where I saw it though.

[ninjamyst]

31 minutes ago, skyscraper2290 said:

I was just reading in a few places that hammers can see retraction under 8... can’t remember where I saw it though.

my hammer went from 2 heads to over 25 so I think low alk is just fine =P.

[skyscraper2290]

39 minutes ago, ninjamyst said:

my hammer went from 2 heads to over 25 so I think low alk is just fine =P.

Certainly sounds like it, I won’t worry about chasing that high of a number for alk then. Thanks for the input!

[skyscraper2290]

Decided on the first day of the new year to grab some fish photos because I haven’t done that in a while. Love how peaceful all these fish are together and because of their size provide a nice scale to the tank. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DaveFason]

Great fish photos! One of the hardest things to capture in a tank. 

 

Everything else doing well?

[skyscraper2290]

Thanks Dave!! I think the rainford goby gave me the most difficulty with trying to get a good picture. 

 

Everything else is looking really good with the exception of one hammer which I did an iodine dip on and then one SPS has been showing STN and I dipped it as well and it’s not looking great either. But all in all really happy with where the tank is at!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

[teenyreef]

I love how things are looking - those fish pics are fantastic! I love the rainford especially. I'm glad to hear the Red Sea mature stuff worked so well, too.

 

I had the same struggle with alk swings during water changes, and that's why I switched to Blue Bucket, and just dose to keep things steady.

[skyscraper2290]

Thanks teeny! I really love the rainford, such a cool fish and I’m happy he is eating well and is really healthy. 

 

The Red Sea Mature Kit is something I would definitely recommend, especially for tanks 30G and under. Over that then you have to buy a second kit or at least certain parts of the kit for larger tanks. 

 

I was initially going to wait to wait till my RSCP ran out but I think I’m going to go get a blue bucket tomorrow and start using it now that I have consumption rates pretty locked down and thenc can begin dosing. Thanks for stopping by!!

[skyscraper2290]

Finally was able to track down a small bucket of Red Sea blue bucket today so I will be able to do my first WC with it tomorrow and then begin a closely monitored dosing program. 

 

I have been consistently going through .3 alk per day and because of that and seeing about 1.0 alk swings during WCs which I definitely don’t like. I plan to start with keeping the tank at 8 but may drop it a little bit. 

 

And because I went to one LFS today I decided to go to a Second after work and picked a 5 polyp frag of magician palys for $15 which felt like a steal. Just have them on the sand bed for now and will mount it tomorrow during my WC. I have been working on getting women on green corals in the tank to help with the balance so have been much pickier with what I’m adding to the tank at this point and am up to 46 total frags. 

 

Also have been been contemplating adding a TSB to the tank but have hesitated because of concerns of aggression with the other fish. That’s about all right now with the tank ATM. 

 

[skyscraper2290]

So recently I have lowered the amount I have been feeding because I noticed the sand bed has been getting dirtier faster. I also have gotten to the point that I’m scraping green film algae off the glass daily which is a pretty big increase from what I had been seeing. I was wondering if I should just chalk this up to the tank going through the maturation process or if it’s something others have dealt with and what the cause was. Thanks in advance!

[mitten_reef]

15 minutes ago, skyscraper2290 said:

So recently I have lowered the amount I have been feeding because I noticed the sand bed has been getting dirtier faster. I also have gotten to the point that I’m scraping green film algae off the glass daily which is a pretty big increase from what I had been seeing. I was wondering if I should just chalk this up to the tank going through the maturation process or if it’s something others have dealt with and what the cause was. Thanks in advance!

If you use any type of chemical filtration media (purigen, phosguard,etc), it might be time to replace?

other than that, just a few extra water change, and sand bed vacuuming.  

[skyscraper2290]

27 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

If you use any type of chemical filtration media (purigen, phosguard,etc), it might be time to replace?

other than that, just a few extra water change, and sand bed vacuuming.  

No chemical filtration, just filter floss and some chateo. I have been using NoPox and the past few weeks have cut my dose in half so it may be related to that. Recently I have been dosing 1ml two times a week right after my WC’s.