D.Capion Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 An original Fluval Spec with flow mod applied From the begging, I knew I wanted to go with some type of Cheato to remove the nutrients At the time of setup i went with a hang on,plumped with a small maxi jet into the tank. I kept the stock pump and added a small hydra for some extra flow. Startup to Wk #5 I cycled this tank in the dark for 5 weeks. Using nothing but stock media for filtration Ghost feed daily, small flake food. I also added approx 1/2 cap of Aquavitro "Seed" daily. I only tested salinity and my PH during this time Wk #6 Step into the Light I already started to see the bubbles coming from my rock and sand bed. Started testing for my ammonia, trites and trates at this time. I was surprised to find small amounts of ammonia and my Trates were already up there, sitting @ 10 ppm 50% water change Realizing "Seed" can up your trates, i stopped adding it and kept my ghost feeding routine, and kept testing. Sure enough my cycle had finished. Small spikes in ammonia then nitrates with 0 trites. So i started a low light routine, low length While continuing to monitor, and lights now on, i got that pods introduced to help with the diatom/algae outbreak i assume was to come. I also seeded the tank with some coralline algae scraped from larger tanks equipment at this time. I ditched the hang on and went with a small reactor instead. Removed the stock media at this time, but placed the stone media into the reactor's top chamber for just that xtra bit of bioload. I then tested the reactor was indeed sufficient enough to remove a heavy load on it. I started to ghost feed Benepets in preparations for hi nutrient foods I'm more then pleased with the results, Almost to good, it can pull large amounts of trates from the water column over night Wk# 7 CUC and battling diatoms I'm on a full day and night cycle, with the reactor running only at night. I started to see that dreaded dusting of diatoms, with no amon/trites, I then added 1 small and 1 large trochus snails. Overnight these two wiped that dusting off and have kept it spotless since. Besides all the mice turds they shoot out. :P I kept with ghost feeding every 2 days with the Benepets, and while monitoring my parameters. Everything was rocking and looking good. Wk#8 First Frag At this point, I just monitored the system. Everything stable i basically top off with ro/di a small amount in the morning then another in the evening. all other parameters/elements stay in check with 1 gal weekly water changes. Reactor chamber has to be pruned at the same time. A side benefit is Pods seem to be thriving in there. During cleaning of a larger house tank, I found a few tips of acropora that had been broken off laying in the sand bed, during some new arrivals. So i figured wth. Glued them to a small rock and let the experiment begin. Wk#9 Adding more stock. At this time i'm really getting stoked. Tank is rockin as far as stability Copepods population has exploded, no Predation, no signs of algae bloom anywhere besides the reactor :) Started seeing some small spots of coraline already, and the sps is still going at this time, im seeing no tissue loss, polys out and color coming up. While at a LFS i had an impulse buy and decided to add a softy in there being that the sps was making out fine. Still see light dusting of diatoms here and there in the nukes and crannies. At this time i also made myself a custom stand/cabinet to house all the gadgets. Wk #10 Impulse buy With everything still rocking I went a added a few heads of Utter Chaos. From here I'll just keep up with my testing and observations. 2 Quote Link to comment
jbb Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 cool idea on the reactor cabinet, really cleans up the look. 2 Quote Link to comment
Zane W Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 Just goes to show that if you do your research (unlike some of us) you can be very successful with your first tank. Great job on that little cabinet btw, can't wait to see more of your tank in the future! 1 Quote Link to comment
WV Reefer Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 7 hours ago, D.Capion said: An original Fluval Spec with flow mod applied From the begging, I knew I wanted to go with some type of Cheato to remove the nutrients At the time of setup i went with a hang on,plumped with a small maxi jet into the tank. I kept the stock pump and added a small hydra for some extra flow. Startup to Wk #5 I cycled this tank in the dark for 5 weeks. Using nothing but stock media for filtration Ghost feed daily, small flake food. I also added approx 1/2 cap of Aquavitro "Seed" daily. I only tested salinity and my PH during this time Wk #6 Step into the Light I already started to see the bubbles coming from my rock and sand bed. Started testing for my ammonia, trites and trates at this time. I was surprised to find small amounts of ammonia and my Trates were already up there, sitting @ 10 ppm 50% water change Realizing "Seed" can up your trates, i stopped adding it and kept my ghost feeding routine, and kept testing. Sure enough my cycle had finished. Small spikes in ammonia then nitrates with 0 trites. So i started a low light routine, low length While continuing to monitor, and lights now on, i got that pods introduced to help with the diatom/algae outbreak i assume was to come. I also seeded the tank with some coralline algae scraped from larger tanks equipment at this time. I ditched the hang on and went with a small reactor instead. Removed the stock media at this time, but placed the stone media into the reactor's top chamber for just that xtra bit of bioload. I then tested the reactor was indeed sufficient enough to remove a heavy load on it. I started to ghost feed Benepets in preparations for hi nutrient foods I'm more then pleased with the results, Almost to good, it can pull large amounts of trates from the water column over night Wk# 7 CUC and battling diatoms I'm on a full day and night cycle, with the reactor running only at night. I started to see that dreaded dusting of diatoms, with no amon/trites, I then added 1 small and 1 large trochus snails. Overnight these two wiped that dusting off and have kept it spotless since. Besides all the mice turds they shoot out. 😛 I kept with ghost feeding every 2 days with the Benepets, and while monitoring my parameters. Everything was rocking and looking good. Wk#8 First Frag At this point, I just monitored the system. Everything stable i basically top off with ro/di a small amount in the morning then another in the evening. all other parameters/elements stay in check with 1 gal weekly water changes. Reactor chamber has to be pruned at the same time. A side benefit is Pods seem to be thriving in there. During cleaning of a larger house tank, I found a few tips of acropora that had been broken off laying in the sand bed, during some new arrivals. So i figured wth. Glued them to a small rock and let the experiment begin. Wk#9 Adding more stock. At this time i'm really getting stoked. Tank is rockin as far as stability Copepods population has exploded, no Predation, no signs of algae bloom anywhere besides the reactor 🙂 Started seeing some small spots of coraline already, and the sps is still going at this time, im seeing no tissue loss, polys out and color coming up. While at a LFS i had an impulse buy and decided to add a softy in there being that the sps was making out fine. Still see light dusting of diatoms here and there in the nukes and crannies. At this time i also made myself a custom stand/cabinet to house all the gadgets. Wk #10 Impulse buy With everything still rocking I went a added a few heads of Utter Chaos. From here I'll just keep up with my testing and observations. Welcome to NR!! Everything looks great so far. 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment
D.Capion Posted January 27, 2019 Author Share Posted January 27, 2019 Thanks for the warm welcome to the boards. Not much going on, Slowly stocking and watching my parameters, and keeping up with my 5% wkly water change. Moved the hairy shroom into the shade,and the first acro's up a bit higher, and added a stick of Birds Nest that i thought was a goner. It had pale flesh and no polys where out. Today it's bright green, branching, and starting to encrust the glue, Lots of polys down there. I also had another impulse buy, A lobophyllia, Couldn't pass it up, looked like it was losing color and needed some help. And OMG it was starving, 2nd night while broadcasting some benepets, it totally transformed in like 3 sec. So i fed it some minced shrimp and sucked it all in. Next morning it was all nice a fleshy and wasn't shrunk to its skeleton any more. Being that i have now added a specimen i have to feed meaty foods to, i went ahead and added a 2 small hermit crabs to the CUC, to address that sand bed of any leftovers. Quote Link to comment
D.Capion Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 Some aquascape adjustments, Some new livestock over the past few weeks. Order of introduction Zoids Trumpet Montipora Goniopora Chalice Prawn goby with his pistol shrimp partner Sorry for the crappy quality the shrimp kicked up all kinds of sand. Had my water column totally trashed this morning. Going to have to come up with something to help catch the ultra fine particles. As my water has always looked like air. Note turn your sound down, i did not realize i was recording sound as well. Quote Link to comment
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