CMAR's IM 10 - Yes Another One

[CMAR]

Hello NR!

 

It's been awhile since I had a tank. I kept Freshwater and Reef tanks in High School and College and now I'm 40 and got hit by the reef bug again! This time it was my son's fault! He got a freshwater tank and I just had to get one! You guys have been a great inspiration throughout the process.

 

Tank - Innovative Marine 10

Light - Prime HD

Modifications - Sicce 0.5 Return Pump

 

Tank was setup on 3/28 and I've been cycling it with Dr. Tim's Ammonia to do a fishless cycle. I'm now at the point where I can add 2ppm Ammonia and Nitrite is at 1 PPM the next day. Have a good amount of algae growing on the rock and sandbed. So I'm close but think I still have a week or two left in the cycle.

 

I look forward to adding to this thread!

 

 

[LazyFish]

That's basicly the same set up I'm running I look forward to seeing it progress.

[Cmaria]

Ok so I was away for a bit on a family trip to Yellowstone. I highly recommend it, it was incredible.

 

I've finally added fish, Rainford's Goby ( captive bred and rating) and a few corals: Yuma, Acan, Zoa, and Blasto. Things are looking pretty good so far.

 

Also, I setup an ATO thank you NanoSapiens for the idea!

[CMAR]

So, unfortunately my Rainford's Goby didn't make it. He was eating and actually got fat. One night he was swimming by the return flow and then I didn't see him the next day. That was the last I saw of him. I'm thinking of keeping the tank fish-less for a while. 

 

I recently purchased some new corals from the WWC Ebay Auction. I have to say everything was great, the way they packaged the corals and they are very clean.

 

I'm battling some algae, mostly on the rock work but some on the sand. I do blow off the rock and use a filter sock and filter pad once a week in addition to weekly 10% water changes. I just ordered some carbon and GFO to see if it helps in addition to a Phosphate test kit. Nitrates are showing 0 but I suspect there may be a phosphate issue. I only feed the corals every other day with Reef Roids so I'm scratching my head as to where the algae is coming from but will hopefully sort it out!

 

[Stoops718]

5 hours ago, CMAR said:

So, unfortunately my Rainford's Goby didn't make it. He was eating and actually got fat. One night he was swimming by the return flow and then I didn't see him the next day. That was the last I saw of him. I'm thinking of keeping the tank fish-less for a while. 

 

I recently purchased some new corals from the WWC Ebay Auction. I have to say everything was great, the way they packaged the corals and they are very clean.

 

I'm battling some algae, mostly on the rock work but some on the sand. I do blow off the rock and use a filter sock and filter pad once a week in addition to weekly 10% water changes. I just ordered some carbon and GFO to see if it helps in addition to a Phosphate test kit. Nitrates are showing 0 but I suspect there may be a phosphate issue. I only feed the corals every other day with Reef Roids so I'm scratching my head as to where the algae is coming from but will hopefully sort it out!

 

Do you get a lot of natural sunlight on the tank. It could be from that.

[CMAR]

Not too much sun light. I work from home quite a bit and open the blinds every now and then. I'm going to keep staying on top of the weekly water changes and hopefully the algae starts going away. In addition to the Phosphate testing.

 

Time will tell!

[Cmaria]

It's been a bit since my last post. I've been battling with algae issues and what I think is Bryopsis. I've been plucking away like crazy and split my water changes into 2 1 gal changes mid week and sunday to see if that helps. The crazy thing is that I have no fish, just two hermit crabs, and I haven't been feeding. My phosphate is measuring zero but I assume the new algae is feeding off the dying algae. Most of the algae is white now and it's been clearing up so there is an end in sight! 

 

Unfortunately, my chalice is bleaching. However it isn't wasting away it's still there and looks like growing in spots. I'm going to see if it makes it. Rest of my corals are doing great. Acan has been splitting and zoas growing over the rocks.

 

Want to add more corals but trying to get the algae eradicated first! I also found this cool hitchhiker snail in the tank.

 

I also saw the hermits fighting and one came out of his shell. First time I saw that. Need to get some more shells for them as they grow!

 

That's all for now.

 

Thanks guys!

 

 

[Cmaria]

Very excited to get my shipment from CultivatedReef. Holly was awesome and even added a few shells for my hermits, who are already checking them out.

 

I am not yet dosing Kalkwasser but think I will have to start soon. Really hoping I have better luck with the Mummy Eye Chalice than I did with the other one. Going to keep him on the bottom for a while.

 

Tons more color!

[Cmaria]

So I realize now why the Favia is also called War Coral. I woke up to a bunch of stinger tentacles streaming from it. Luckily I saw it and moved it further away. My orange ricordea got beat up but I'm hoping he recovers.

[Wonderboy]

Looking nice - that's a lot of color!   :]

 

 

On 10/21/2019 at 5:25 AM, Cmaria said:

Want to add more corals but trying to get the algae eradicated first!

Don't wait too long. Corals are nutrient competitors after all. Diatoms are expected, increase in CUC ussually keeps them from getting out of hand. From what I can see - I'm sure you could introduce like 7 more hermits and shells, 2 or 3 trochus snails and like 4ish nassarius (to keep the sand moving) with good results. If necessary, a Sally light foot crab would do work to that hary stuff.

[Cmaria]

Thanks Wonderboy. I'm going to look at adding more to the cleanup crew.

 

Can anyone help with identifying the type of algae towards the bottom of the tank? It has a slimy almost jelly like consistency. Some of it I cam blow off the rock with a Turkey baster but some of it I have to scrape off. Would like to know what it is so I can see how best to remove it.

 

I'm surprised because I have no fish in the tank and only feed coral candy, like reef rods, twice a week. I am also doing 1 gal wc twice a week. Any info would be appreciated!

[Ratvan]

Can you get a close up of the Algae growth? 

[Cmaria]

So things are moving along nicely. I started dosing Vibrant and have kept a strict WC schedule. I just purchased some new pieces from Cherry Corals, acropora, digi monti, and a cool looking psammacora. 

 

Unfortunately my mummy eye chalice started browning. I fed it and it's been growing so I put it on the sand bed and I can already see it starting to green up a bit so hopefully he comes back!

 

Hoping I can grow and color up the acropora once it acclimates. The algae has already started to diminish. I do have a small bit of cyano but I hear that's normal after using Vibrant so I'm going to stay the course on WCs.

 

More to come!

 

 

 

[Cmaria]

So my chalice is getting its green color back and looking great. Placing it on the sand has made a huge difference. I also added my first Acropora, Psammacora, and Montipora Digita. Of course the monti broke while I was setting it in the tank but seems fine.

 

Really excited to see the tank progressing

[Cmaria]

Its been a bit since I posted anything on here but I wanted to give everyone here a shout out. I've learned so much this past year and change, even though I was in the hobby years ago. Big thank you to everyone for all your posts and stories. I wanted to share a few top down images of my tank. I'm so happy how the tank is progressing.