Majors Nano Reef 49l

[mylertitchell]

Background
So Tank was started in July, it all started with doing a water feature in the garden (a well with some goldfish), then a betta tank (aquaponics) for the office, then I came across the reef hobby, started googling galore, owned nothing and had every system dreamt up, i wanted to get a nano tank that would fit into my house with no upset and then if all went well and knew the hobby was for me, I would be able to upgrade down the line. I read an article, that was just spoke to me and it was based upon a book, so i found the book, bought it in hardcopy (the wife said was on the phone too much) and was locked in. Reef was gonna be definitely for me.

I had a friend who was a long time fish enthusiast (tropical) and had just got into the saltwater game, FOWLER tank and then into corals and then sacked his tropical tank and upgraded to just one reef tank. Having a Reef Buddy has definitely made this journey even more enjoyable. 

So after reading the book, my brief was simple a nano tank that would fit on the table I already have, buy equipment which can be used in the next tank (modular etc) and hopefully i enjoy the hobby and if so upgrade to as big as tank I can (ie id love a 6ft peninsula with walk in room behind it, dividing the dining room and living room, but then id need a new house, most likely 200l, big enough tank but in scale with the room), and if i didn't well, well don't even need to finish the sentence. As its a great hobby!

Goal
Fully stocked stable Tank, once I Reach this target I will begin the journey all over again with most likely a 3ft sumped tank, then convince the wife we need a bigger house and its nothing to do with the fish.

Tank Spec
Start: July 2019
Display: Aquael Nano Reef Duo 49 Litre

Rock: Aquanetta 2 Module display (ceramic), 2 live pieces (donated by friend) and some dry pieces

Sand: CaribSea Aragonite Fiji Pink Sand 15LB
Lighting: Stock , Zetlight 1201 x1 x 2
Heater: V2therm 50 Digital Heater 50w

Wavemaker: APS 2500 Powerhead, Jebao SW-4 (running at 1000l),Jebao SLW-10 (3500lph)
Filtration:  Stock, HOB Canister Filter APS-500,
Filter Media: Coarse Sponge, FIlter Floss, Seachems Matrix, Phosguard, CarbonMatrix
ATO: Autoaqua Smart ATO Micro (4l res - Cereal Container)
Testing: Salifert test kits (Alkalinity, Calcium, Nitrates, Phos)
Dosing: Manual - Microbe-Lift Calcium, Saliferts KH Buffer, LaCl3*, Carbon (NitraPhos Minus)* Automatic - Single Doser - Kalk/Vinegar solution, Manual - Microbe-Lift Calcium*, Saliferts KH Buffer*, LaCl3*
*if required

I have been on quite the journey so far (including a bad crash), it is gonna be quite enjoyable going down memory lane to get yous up to date...
Plan of Action: Monthly updates as part of my routine.
July 2019

[mylertitchell]

July 2019
Target

Cycle Tank and add a basic clean up crew

Equipment

All Basic Stock, a 1200l HOB waterfall filter running fluval carbon, clearmax, biorings, coarse sponge.
Summary
Took a couple of attempts with scape, but got there in end. Live Rock was added with hitchhikers 😅 (feather dusters, bristleworms, tube worms, brittle starfish, asterina starfish, zoas rock and mushrooms rock). Had to make some readjustments to scape to make room around glass for maintenance but trying to utilise every inch. 

Turned out green hair algae isn't part of the ugly process (will never use live rock again).

My LFS told me i need powerhead (he turned out to be quite expensive and had no snails or nothing in, very limited stock and poor coral selection, water is £6 - drive an hour water is £1 but generally £3) Bought 2 red hermit crabs and some Green Star Polyps.

Was not topping up yet just WC.

[mylertitchell]

August 2019
Target

Fish, snails and a shrimp

Equipment

2500 Powerhead (APS)
Feeding

Pellet, Frozen, Flake , Off on repeat

Maintenance 

Weekly Water Change (mon), Daily Clean Glass, Weekly testing (strips), log and photo (fri).
Summary
Manual Scrubbing Hair Algae every other week, my friend was getting some CUC online, i jumped in and got pair of astreas, 3 ceriths and 1 algae hermit. Hoping this would start to take care of algae issues.

I bought a magnet, drilled/fixed it to the rock and made a floating background rock for back of glass, i was told an island is best for GSP. Really happy how it went and planned to add more.

Happened to be doing my sons babyshoot 2 hours away from house but 10mins from a great big LFS. Unplanned but had to take opportunity. Some how walked out with a big box containing a pair of turbos, bumblebees, a clownfish, pyjama cardinal, zoa frag and pulsing xenia. I definately got over excited, but knew this opportunity wouldn't arise again (havent got back there yet)

[mylertitchell]

September 2019
Target

Coral Order
Summary
Found online stores that deliver CUC and corals, which is key for me (due to being 2 hours away from stores). I may of got excited this month to get some stock into tank. Was being quite ignorant to the hair algae as my params were good (still strips) looking back my params were good because the hair algae was dealing with them, my display tank was basically a refugium lol.
I bought a pink gonipora, a rainbow acan, pair nas snails and some shells for my crabs (shells was a bargain £3 for some shells and ended up with 2 of the shells already having red crabs living in them).

An online auction came up with penny bids (they havent did this since) and ended up winning a kenya tree, zoa and candy canes. Very impulsive but they were basically giving them away (in exchange for money lol)
I bought dragons breath to see if this helps with nutrient issue.
I some how also purchased a pair of pompom crabs that month too. I definitely went mad that month, also if you look at bottom left, you can see im preparing for something (honestly im an idiot looking back - slow down man).
I bought another magnet and created another floating rock for my pulsing xenia
Front

Side

PomPom (how could i say no)

[mylertitchell]

October 2019
Target

Get my shit together
Dosing
Carbon dosing (NitraPhos minus)
Summary
So i ordered a yasha goby and pistol shrimp pair, he said they deliver (we dont deliver fish here, just coral and inverts) i received a hi-fin goby and randals goby, they were tiny i mean crazy small like wow, should never of bought them, the shrimp didnt make it and the goby jumped (glass lid). £50 quid gone in less than day. I also order money cowries was told they great at GHA. The man didnt put them in and ended up not telling me but sent out a CUC pack. Like i ordered 2 snails and he gave me nass, bumblebees turbans and crabs (yes all plural). Absolute disaster, staying away from that cowboy from now on.

1 pompom died, I ordered proper test kits (salifert) and nitrates was 25 and phos was 0.25, i began carbon dosing (nitraphos) and got this to 2 and 0.03 by end of month, my hair algae had white tips, i took this as good sign.
Such a good sign that i celebrated with a forest fire digi and some sexy shrimp.

Hindsight 

I am an idiot, calm down, stop buying stuff, they will still be there when your ready. Water Changes is the best and quickest fix (my problem was saltwater was expensive and 2 hr round trip).
How did I think this was okay, i was out of my depth and still kept buying things!
Front

Sexy Shrimp (they do move across the tank, but the live on that kenya tree - really happy with that tree purchase and its wee rock)

[mylertitchell]

November 2019
Target

Really get my shit together
Equipment
Jebao SW4
Dosing
Razor 
Summary
So I bought a refractomer (was using hydrometer) and Razor . It was time to get a grip, my friend started making his own saltwater (rodi) and i was buying it off him so was able to start doing better water changes aswell (i see here in my notes im talking 5% changes, im now doing 35% - 15l). Really i should been doing some serious wc.

I dosed razor for 1 week, my corals and dragon breath were not happy so i stopped. My GHA was lower, my nitrates where going up (makes sense as they were consuming it) Razor has seemed to work but at a cost, sexy seen eating acan head also.
I was definitely lieing to myself as you can see i did another floating rock, new powerhead and some coral (there not even in my notes, i swore i wrote everything down)

5th Nov

30th Nov

[mylertitchell]

December 2019
Target

Its time to go shopping!
Equipment
Zetlight 1201, Autoaqua Smart ATO Micro, RODI, TDS/pH Meters, Media (Phosguard, CarbonMatrix)
Dosing
Calcium, Alkalinity, Carbon
Summary
I had planned to go to the big smoke with my friend, we had it all planned, 4 fish stops and some lunch. No wifes, no kids just us. My tank was stable, elements good (was just starting to dose elements), nutrients last 2 weeks nitrate 2-1 and phosphate 0.03-0. I thought I was in the perfect place for this trip.

I went big! I bought fish 2 snails 2 crabs 1 SPS 4 LPS 3 soft, glasses, amino acids and calcium. A serious acclimation large water change drop in temp because of this.

Perfect Params

Shopping Day

Day After Acclimation


The day after this my light finally arrived (china), I should of been on cloud 9. But unfortunately the royal gramma must of went into the firefishs home the first night and my firefish bolted and jumped out of tank. I mean I was devasted, like this was my first fish, i dont think i could get another firefish, he was amazing, had his wee home, went swiming, he had a class routine.
New Lights

Started 10% water changes, dosing calcium and alk as required, still dosing carbon. Some corals weren't happy but took that as just adjusting to new light. ATO was installed (salinity has been rock solid ever since)

[mylertitchell]

January 2020
Target

Keep the dream alive
Equipment
APS HOB Canister Filter
Summary
I never quarantined the royal gramma, he was eating brilliantly, i started flashing (didnt no it was this to after). At night after work i didnt think he looked well, that morning I said ill get him out and start treatment, wife rang while at work. he was dead by lunch. By the next week my other 2 showed signs, i took them out to treat they died within 24hrs. This was a proper dark day, my clown looked so frail, i hated it. Bought 1 fish and he wiped out everything. Cannot believe how quick it all happened, this was my dream fish, he was suppose to my first but then got hard to get hold of. If i had quarantined him, i may of saved all 4 lives. But this happening has made me a better reefer.

I added a new filter and filled with seachem matrix (5 trays, 1 sponge/floss, 3.5 matrix and 0.5 chemical (phosguard and carbon)), my nutrients started to increase in tank.  paly,zoas hammer not looking well. acan SPS dead. everything else was good. mushrooms good lost some.

I lost alot but started a new stable routine, this is definitely the moment i knew this hobby was gonna be for life, i was getting out of this and going to see the otherside no matter what. I changed the media, stopped carbon dosing was worried about organic carbon and bad bacteria.
Whites

Blues

[mylertitchell]

Febuary 2020
Target

Stable
Equipment
RODI Finally Up and Running
Summary
20l Water Changes for 3 weeks, got my nitrates 5 and phosphates 0.03, Dosing calcium as required currently (havent found sweet spot) and alkalinity daily, making up a rodi + kH buffer and adding a cap daily. Plan to change to Kalk in future. 14th Feb - 2 months from the date to my nutrient levels where back under control. Been generally running alk 11.2 calcium 440, changing this slowly to 430 and 10.2, as things seem to be ok here and allows me room for swing. 
Have dosed LaCl3 when seen colour in phos, generally 2ml diluted formula would take this from 0.1 to 0.03. Now dosing bacteria with water change (microbacter7), my flow has been 60x turnover, slowly lowering this also. Everything happy, except Frogspawn (reason for changing flow). Doing 10l water change as part of routine.

[mylertitchell]

March 2020
Target

Stable, improve maintenance
Equipment
DIY AWC kinda
Summary
Flow x30 (happy with this), nitrates went up with 10l water change, changed to 15l water change. seems to be maintaining so far.
ATO Failed multiple times during week, overflowed tank was quite dangerous, did this 4pm every day. Turned out to be sun blinding the optics and she went mental, pump ran dry with it. 7l of rodi into tank. params were off as expected, but was ok thankfully. Moved optic to other side (i can see magnet now, but least its not gonna happen again) Daily dosing of alk, less daily swing, everything seems to be stable. 
Plumbed in my RODI so always have 25lits of rodi, bought another 25l fermentation bucket, added old wavemaker and an old heater, 15l saltwater made every friday with ease to be used on monday (use heater so dont have to worry about temp swing). I have small pump, tubing and clips.
RODI and salt

Maintenance
Monday - Water gets pumped out of tank into my bucket, i stop it at 15l, whilst its pumping out, i stir sand and blast rocks, clean glass, i change filter every 2nd week, i change media every 4 (multi-tasking, this all being done whilst WC), once i take 15l out, i put pump into clean water, and pump it in. I can then tidy up polish glass, and put it all back together, very satisfied with this workflow. 
Friday - testing, topup ato, photograph, journal, stir sand blast rocks, feed corals, (i feed mix frozen, aminos and roids to corals and fish etc)
End of every month I am now going to collate my journal into this and set my target for next month.

Fish

11 weeks from the deaths of my fish, i finally got fish back in the tank, a pair of black ice snowflake clowns 🤩

Tank

[mylertitchell]

April 2020
Target

Auto Dosing Kalkwasser (minimal parameter swing)

[Enthrol]

Really like the 'scape man. Sorry about your losses but glad you stuck with it. Looking forward to following along.

[mylertitchell]

April 2020
Target

Auto Dosing Kalkwasser (minimal parameter swing)
Equipment
Zetlight 1201 x2
Single Channel Doser
Fluval Nano Scraper (Had some hard algae on glass, this took my glass to new)
Doser
Ordered a Jebao WIFI 3.1 Single Doser, and started manually dosing kalk morning and night. The doser arrived and unfortunately was defective, it just would not stop pumping, as if instead of being 0(off) and 1(on) it was 0.1 and 1, app fully worked but it just didnt stop. End result somehow ended with me receiving full refund and keeping doser (crazy to think that was better for them than pay for p&p)

Anyhow, i thought how could i salvage this, so i unscrewed doser, secured manual button to always be on and screwed back together, I went to app, removed all schedules and set doser to manual mode. I was somewhat prepared for this as during research of dosers i had always thought a peristaltic pump and a timer would do the job, but when i priced them up it wasnt much saving compared to jebao from china. I bought this single doser for £29 new delivered. Anyway so i plugged her into a wifi plug that i had spare, and let her run until the unit was primed.

What alot of peoples issue is the wifi plugs can only be on and off for minutes. But if they are alexa enabled you can setup routines, which can go to seconds (increments of 5) Amazon Alexa is Key! Alot of calibration required to see what she really does dose. 50ml per minute is max on unit, but after calibrating i was getting 35ml per minute and used that as my logic on dosing.
Very Happy with my DIY Doser.
 

 

Lime Vinegar

I am now dosing kalkwasser and vinegar, as a single solution. I am currently still finding my sweet spot, but my param swing over a week would be 10ppm of cal or 1dkh alk max, so still brilliant just trying to hone in. pH has increased which is great benefit also.

General
I saw some corals for sale at a great price online in particular papaya clove polyps (one the first corals i fell in love with), ended up buying monti histura, papaya cloves, pipe organ, and 6 named zoa frags, i had  to make a makeshift frag rack to handle them out of eggcrate and some suction clips i had. Once putting these up my brain finally clicked, I had another light in garage, I bought 2 just so i could use these on next tank, why keep for next when I can put on now. With slight mod (nothing permanent) I was able to put both on my tank.

Summary
Was a really great month and I have some targets for next month to make the tank easier to manage (even though it already is, but few changes will suit family life better). Main goal for next month is place some of the frags, and find pretty place for the leftovers who need to grow out more, have kalk and vinegar honed in.

[mylertitchell]

May 2020
Target

One word STABILITY!
DIY Fish Food
So I was originally looking at reef chili for corals, which then took me into making it myself, and then slowly transitioned into feeding the entire tank, i was originally running my tank on, wafers day 1, pellets day 2, and frozen day 3 twice week, then changed to frozen 3 times week, and wafers/pellets 3 times week. I was looking at frozen mussels and shrimp and all that from tesco, but with such a small tank, i thought id try this first. So i feed 1/4 of a blister to my tank 6 times a week, Wednesdays off. I broadcast feed 4 times and target feed this with 1/16th roids twice week. (recommended roids is 1/8th for tank my size so split feed as tank isnt fully stocked)
Recipe

• 5 artemia
• 1 copes
• 1 daphnia
• 1 cyclops
• 1 pellets (hikari pellets a)
• 1 garlic flakes
• 1/2 shrimp pellets
• 1/2 algae wafers
• 10ml vitaminos

This made 40 portions so lasts 6/7 weeks. I may adjust recipe next time, but wont be far off the base. Clowns, corals and inverts same to be happy so far! And I really like the constant food source, so should help towards stability

New Frag Rack

This thing glows under lights, like its quite jazzy, maybe too jazzy, but its a great size for 10 plugs, is in no way in the way and i bought few single polyps that need to grow out and also kept a polyp off each the plugs to grow out and frag swap with my friend. He has couple gorg ands zoas, so perfect trades for playboy bunnies, nightcrawler and pink mohawks if all goes well.

Routine
So this is my routine, every monday i have an hour or two set aside, and every day i take 10mins to feed/dose, assess, clean glass. This has worked out really well so far, so hopefully its all good. I threw in that big water change on the 6th cycle, as i have a slight hesitation to carbon dosing and build up of organic carbon etc, so this and the bacteria dose should minimise any bang coming.

If you don't measure, you cannot manage is something my CTO said, and sticks with me, I have been recording since day dot, but decided after transitioning into this routine for last few weeks I would take a new sheet that reflects my new routine, I watch alot of youtube videos inappropriate reefer etc, but have really got into BRS. They doing master reefing series with chemistry, so have somewhat adjusted numbers to reflect them, i try and be more proactive so instead of months ago oh 25 nitrates need look at that, ive been 10 time to sort, and more recently if thats 5-10 range time to assess. Every little helps, what ive learnt in this game, is seconds to destroy and weeks to resolve, shambles always around the corner, but its definitely rewarding.

Dosing Minor Elements and Minerals
So with the new routine and minimising the water changes I wanted to dose trace elements and minerals (this comes from a fish store i visited who had the best corals I have ever seen, tanks were clean, everything looked stunning lights were amazing, and he told us his routine, he used alot of the aquaforest, and recommended the life source)
Well firstly I said the rack was jazzy (not even blackout can hide it), but my goodness the aquaforest life source, its just a mineral mud dose 5ml once a week, I love dosing it, soo much fun to add and watch the clarity come back crisp. To early for results but im happy to do it, and feel like im adding goodness. The trace elements took long time to choose, was very close on red sea as brs recommends with kalk, but it doesnt include strontium, i liked the salifert but it doesnt include iodine. I came across TLF SeaElements - "Some trace elements accumulate in marine aquariums, but SeaElements avoids contributing to this problem by including only elements that are typically depleted, such as iron and manganese, iodine, strontium, boron, bromine, and others", it has good instructions and im dosing 1ml per week. I will be doing ICP Test down line when tank is fully stocked and been running this routine for good few cycles. So be interesting to see results,  my tank does have some tell tales, my xenias do not pulse like normal when something not right, my eagle eyes disappear. I find that fascinating to see and use them as indicators for adhoc testing and making adjustments if necessary. 
 

Hanna Alkalinity Tester
If only someone had told me how truly great this piece of equipment is, 10ml tank water push button, add 1ml reagent, push button and read out number, i got 9.3, i then did my salifert as theres only 2-3 tests left. i got 9.6 but went to 9.9 to check u no one of those i would of recorded 9.6 but was torn, and it just made me go - great purchase major on the hanna, quicker and just accept the answer. it may be off too but it shud be pretty rock solid consistent which is all that matters.
Summary
So month been enjoyable again, placed corals and a week or 2 after i did notice my monti bleaching, i also had slight nutrient spike (15 on nitrates say) when was transistioning, but its got worse so i think its my placement, so i ordered big cable ties so i can move my lights into the center as thats were they should be. I am contemplating buying a seneye reef, so i can get my lights running at fullest, 50-150 par across most the board and hopefully couple 150+ hotspots for couple sps spots. I will be doing another tank soon enough so would definately be using the par again, also be able to use it when setting up tank with ammonia etc, and do like the idea of when adding fish run the slide to keep on top of it, so think i can justify it. lol. So thats kinda whats on the cards, maybe a coral order, maybe some sps and just place and see how it goes, buy the seneye, or buy a phosphate hanna checker. Anyway stick to me new regime and coral or seneye most likely.

 

[mylertitchell]

June 2020
Target

PAR Didn't even get a chance!

The Elephant in the room

"Fully stocked stable Tank, once I reach this target I will begin the journey all over again with most likely a 3ft sumped tank". That has always been my Shane Ward goal. THATS MY GOAL! And i knew i wasnt far away; seneye, 1 or 2 coral orders, maybe cheeky sixline or invert order, hanna testers and an ICP test for bants. I thought id then just be in maintenance mode on some fragging if required all whilst i started the big build. And for me this build was gonna be big, custom stand fancy plumbing, basic at heart but future proof and beautifully executed no rat nest cables.

Well my friend threw me a link for bants and little did he know i was hook link and sinker. Some guy had walked into a shop and said 'oh thats pretty' and literally bought everything there and then, all from the one shop. Spent over £2500 not including water,fish,corals,ongoing maintenance. And sure by sure just like the guy who went to the car dealership and bought a sportscar and then realised, it needs fancy tyres oil, maintenance. He was not prepared. Not for year one of tanks anyway. So he put it all up for sale, i genuinely remember seeing this months before when he had fish and coral too. When this add went up the tank was dry, he had took the fish and what ever corals where left to fish shop. I cleaned the rocks so much death. So much money, crazy. He went big he had a great tank at one point. Just didnt have the time for it.. So I drove 90mins there and filled the car with everything he had, paid him and took it home to see how i did. I just paid what he asked.

So i now own a Clearseal 900 Deluxe (central weir 3 holes), sump with cabinet, everglow 900 light (stunning light cudnt believe thats what he had £450 and on back order u cannot get them), plumbing, skimmer, reactor, pumps (1 still in box), wavemakers, rock, rodi, socks, heaters, therm controller, tests, dosing products, scraper, list goes on literally £2586 of stuff, 10 months old so in pretty much best second hand condition, few minor marks on tank, cabinet good but not mint (but ill be building own so didnt bother me) but if i got it wet it would look just like a new tank would in a month or 2. I almost didnt want to see the add as i wanted to this in 6-12 months but for £400 how could i let that slip away, sold the rodi unit for £40 and keeping the rest as no point. So £360 for a 270l display 120l sump or 390l total 103 us gallon inc 12l/3gal ato section. I will be starting a build thread for it at some point, i have started the process, mainly theoretically , bleaching the rocks, pure design. but will be dominos effect soon. But it be lucky to be wet this year, but hopefully, just have to see... 

 

So that explains why i didnt get my seneye, the tank did hilariously come with a few things i was buying this month like long tweezers, magnesium test, and redsea a b (i was gonna get ab+), anyway back to my nano...

Monti

My monti is in my eyes settled, some places our bleached but other places dense polyps and out and flesh returning. I have moved the wavemaker to center (i genuinely dont know why it was never there i thought it wudnt fit) so flow alot better for it and have increased my lights to 10rg30w80b and 85b only few hours at night. Im satisfied that hes happy now.

 Algae Issues (Cyano)
I have had this kinda brown algae, diatom/cyano on sand bed for while, i stir and blast weekly and when target feeding so its always maintained, but since bringing those frags in its stepped up a gear, rack is bogging, filters rough ( i made few filter mistakes this month and not ran it correctly as im a tit) and the plugs keep growing algae, put them on sand bed, cleaned rack, plugs mint in morn and rack got dirty byself, took rack out and kept plugs in sand, no issues since. I noticed the fur on the rocks and since my first algae outbreak was bad, i am being as proactive as possible. took toothbrush too rocks, dosed razor for 5 days to coincide with my wc and havent dosed since, did a serious vaccum on sand bed and 7 days later still a clean bed, i have actually went to clean glass and stir sand and havent as its all good (still do it on my schedule days). So since doing that vacuum, i have updated schedule to inc. I also thought due to not having phos registering for a while that my issue is due to lack of nutrients so since i have it i dose redsea AB daily too as why not, tank can handle it and corals are happy.

Shells

I took my son to the beach for the first time, and puck up some shells to mark the occcasion well it was like a swingers convention 4 shells in and theyve all had go. Dropped first shell and swap was within seconds, rest over the course of the day or 2. Happy campers, glad i did it, shells were on my list for while but hard to get right online i have shells in garage that r years away lol, they wudnt manoeuvre in nano.

Corals
Seeing decent growth; blastos heads starting to come out more and more, zoas doubling, papaya was 4/5 and now is about 5 and 4 pups. 

Summary

Looking back on month, and thinking i should have a seneye but instead have 390l system in garage, what a month. But from tank point of view, everything stable and maintained, issues all human error, some manual adjustments in dosing but due to alk increase but with growth and tank coming year old its expected especially in nanos which spike serious. Im already dosing fullly saturated kalk around 3-3.5dkh per week and last 2 weeks needed brought up. this cycle ill know for sure if need to up kalk. I wud prob be at my tanks limit with evap very shortly if not so with this change. Next move be lid off then to handle it.

Plans and target for July
Tank is officially 1 year old mid july, so i will be doing ICP test, to see how i did. So resolve anything, maybe jumpguard and upgrade dosing containers if have to, and stick to schedule. So hopefully share those next month.

[mylertitchell]

And I ordered coral... boy I’m a sucker for this hobby, 1 day into new month and already bought. Digital spoon scale, icp test and a coral order. 
July gonna be class! Well everyone deserves  Birthday presents I guess 😅

[mylertitchell]

July 2020
Target
Corals Placed and Resolve ICP Results (if any)

Corals
Ordered; Blue Monti Digi, Pink Eyed Chalice (DOA), Branching Lobo, Purple Pipe Organ, Artic Ice Paly, Gobstopper/PurpleBees/GorillaNipples/BlowPops/DragonEyes Zoas. Very happy with the order was sad about the chalice, what a waste (got refund, but still what a waste).

The Lobo is just unreal, the mother-colony I mean I cannot wait to have that.
Balancing
I ordered a digital spoon and what a treat it turned out to be for manual adjustments, was able to test my fresh saltwater and make a precise dose to balance water to same as tank. Spoon measures 0.1g which is great when using a product that states 3.3dkh per 7 level spoons per 25gal for a 10gal net tank. Also makes measuring salt easy as can hold 2-300g of salt in the biggest spoon holder. So happy knowing alk/cal consumption is purely corals etc.

ICP Results
Very Happy With ICP Results, I did a 50% water change after these results to deal with the aluminium. I believe aluminium can come from matrix, phosguard and ceramic scapes ( I have all three). People dont really no if its an issue and alot people have higher numbers than me so i happy with big water change and carrying on my journey as everything happy and stable in tank. I have slighltly increased my TraceElements 1ml to a full 1ml syringe so max 1.2ml for now to handle iodine as it not far off mark, And i believed the iron may be from a rusty screw as ive had ATO fails.

Summary
Wavemaker stopped working, now needs kickstarted when goes off (I would be very proud of my pump maintenance, shes mint, tried vinegar soak as well as normal citric acid scrub). Have it running higher now to get flow right, trying to deal with it as long as can, as dont want to buy another unless have to due to other tank in process, but that wavemaker was suppose to be for frag tank in sump anyway so prob will replace sooner rather than later. Kenya Tree has been getting to big for its boots, so having to cut it back a few times, was sad to put in bin would made good frags (hopefully next tank will be able to save more). Was very happy this month up until the last week when wavemaker went, and my blue monti started bleaching, not sure if was flow or me stopping the redsea ab daily. but still feeding 3 times per week.

Hopefully next months goal will find be to find a good balance of nutrients (i think im zero phos), feeding and he survives it! Next Month possibilities acropower, phos hanna checker? wavemaker? wavemaker may supersede.

[mylertitchell]

August 2020
Target
Finding a Balance

Hosting in GSP

Purchases

• Jebao SLW-10
• Acropower
• Fungai Plate, Cleaner Shrimp, Snails (Ceriths/Turbos/Nass/Astreas)
• SPS (bonsai acro, green slimer acro, hyacinth acro, purple plate monti)
• Phosphate Hanna Checker
• Books (Fish Encyclopedia, Inverts Encyclopedia, Water Chemistry, Natural Approaches to Reefing)
  

Failures

My filter pump failed, i took apart, cleaned, greased and has been fine since. My wavemaker finally gave way, i purchased a cheap constant one that arrived quickly so was not without wavemaker and then ordered a new jebao slw10. It has arrived and was able with some adjustments to make some great sine bath waves. Really happy with this wavemaker, would be happy to purchase the big boys of this for new tank as they are minimal and the cable management is superb.

Losses
Blue Monti bleached out, not sure if was due to nutrients or lights etc. He was perfect for few weeks then i stopped feeding redsea and he started bleaching and i started feeding acropower, but he never recovered. Sexy Shrimp was seen in my fire shrimps mouth, the big 1 incher too, down to just the little one now.

Algae
Finding the balance has shown some green hair algae showing up, and some diatom bloom back on sand bed. Too much nutrients when was feeding daily, going back to 2 times a week, and maybe 3 times week in future, not to worried as stopped the feeding did large water change and some manual scrubs so should have back to normal this 3 week cycle. GSP disappeared a few times, he was my tell that sumthing was not right.

Jumpguard
I added my stock order and that night my clownfish jumped out of tank. I heard a slap hitting floor, assumed it was the new snail who was trying to make break for it. But turned on lights and my black ice snowflake laying on floor, i put him back in and watched him (bit stressed as youd expect) threw teatowel over my glass lid tank. He had white stringy poop for few days after but was still eating, and going on normal. He was fine by day three. I had stuff in garage and was able to make an aluminium jumpguard that is definitely fish proof (99.99%). I was so lucky to be still in living room when he jumped (was about to go to bed), very happy with jumpguard. PH has increased and evap also which i believe was a next step for me as my current dosing was at limit for current evap rate. 

Summary
A crazy month for failures and what have you, my tank was at its best this month, not so much now, but it has some great additions in CUC, a stunning wave and a lovely fungai plate (eye of sauron). I have named this month Celibate Cept. So plan is to get everything happy and in situ (fungai plate walks so want to make his place happy, as he already moved 4 inches). Deal with nutrient/algae issue, handle new evap rate within my own cycle. And have again, the best the tank has ever looked moment. I do have frags for swapping, and he is holding some SPS for me (bonsai acro, green slimer acro, hyacinth acro, purple plate monti) in his tank too so i want my tank sitting in best state for that. So things that is still ahead of me: Frag Swap, Seneye, Mandarin and maybe a cheeky coral (#scoly) But now this month i ordered some nice books to read (pre celibate cept) so hopefully my tank goes back to stable. 

[mylertitchell]

Finally a bath wave...

[mylertitchell]

September 2020
Target
Celibate Ceptember
Books
Books are excellent, encyclopaedias on fish and inverts, water chemistry and a natural approach to reefing. Still looking for a good book on corals. Kids loving the books too and if kids happy im happy.

Jumpguard
Average evap rate was around 0.5l and is now around 1.5l on average, pH has increased also 8+ have measured 8.24.

Nutrients

Elevated Nutrients (from increasing all food sources) and the sad passing of my fungai plate, that i could bare to remove just incase. My son took my scraper and was cleaning glass, and dinged him with blade. Fully puffed to receeded, skeleton showing and never came back. Tried iodine bath, but nothing. Stopped all feeding minus fish food, few water changes and back on track. Minus the tuffs of Green Hair Algae everywhere. Removed Carbon and Phosguard this cycle and dosing razor to help remove GHA. Tank apart from the the tuffs off GHA, is looking great, corals all happy.
Seneye
I have been watching seneyes on eBay for some time, they seem to hold value well and have been unfortunate in bids a few times, well didnt one come up this month (the month of zero purchases) it was a seneye, sws wifi and magnet holder. £330 quid new, and got it for £165, allows me to do par readings and ill use it for cycling my 390l system, and setting those lights too, as well as frag tank in sump. So happy to buy it as will put it to use. Seneye also works as water level alarm to so will work well in new tank to let me no my pumps are off. It showed me a different temperature to the temp i thought i was, so I ended up installing the DD temp contoller (i got for new build, dont no why i didnt put this on sooner). I was able to calibrate seneye to this and allow tank to run at 25 degrees with 0.5 allowance. Seeing the swing in my temp previous to the DD controller, was so happy to put this on tank.

PAR Reading
I was running my lights very light, 30w80b10rg. I was able to go quick skim of tank and see that best was round a hundred, so explains some sps issues and zoas stretching i think. I put these lights to 100w100b100rg and got the 50s shadows 100-150 average and some 180-290 high levels. But this was quite washed out and not to my taste (whites are where the par is coming from in these lights). I took them to 80w100b20rg (didnt really want to play with red green too much), this is just before white washes the blues out. and has somewhat of a good result. Should be okay for some sps, i cud center or lower lights to get less light spill and higher pars again, but not sure if want to build that canopy, but maybe will. but the numbers shud be okay for now (looks nice to eye, photos well and all my corals happy, so if can keep more than my monti hirusta alive then im golden) dont want to butcher them either as there perfect for my refugium and frag tank in new build.

Frag Swap
Finally got to meet my friend we swapped 3 zoas and a gorg for 2 zoas, monti and a mushroom. He was keeping some sps for me also, but unfortunately some died (slimer gone, hyacinth not fully gone but maybe to far gone and monti just browned, bonsai looks well) so got me a candy cane / hysterix (came broke, but took the broken pieces into 2 frag plugs for him) to make up for it the lamb. Looking forward to uping my fragging game.

Summary

Happy with the month, tank is well, annoyed so much about my fungai plate. Some good forward moves, and as always spending money when shouldnt be. I have pushed back the new build due to the stand being custom built and have some house work that needs done before can put this tank into house. So I decided to make call that new tank is 2021, and that there was a few things that should been done prior to new going in, so even no its overkill for nano, lets do it for nano and use as test tank. So goal is to try and lay pipe so that can run tank from garage. So ATO can be infinite, dosing moved to garage so lot larger containers, proper mixing station to easily make saltwater and ideally AWC also (may that be daily and automatic or more DIY weekly semi automatic approach). This would allow me to change the cycle and put this tank into ULM standard, also fill to brim with coral, and i really want mandarin as perfect tank for him. As target feeding in my tank can be done by broadcast lol. Also the SLW-10 is the best purchase, so easy to clean and leave the mounts behind so goes back where was and can do this so easily without unplugging as the main dirt areas come off.

Quarantine

So i own a 12l tank, and for fun just went through my crap and literally was able to make a QT tank. (longterm plan was this nano will become QT when move into new tank), I have heard some cracker stories in regards mollys and eating GHA, and think i would like to buy one and use to test my QT for wc and evap, to allow me to confidently QT my mandarin (even if its observation, hyposalinity, prazi/copper). So I bought an ammonia alert as thats all was short, so might check out the LFS see if any tickle me and then accimate to saltwater (which would kill any fw ich) so nice baby step into QT and allow me to maybe resolve GHA, have a nice fish if not remove and allow me to safely add mandarin as i cant risk anything with my clowns.

[mylertitchell]

October 2020
Target
Get Back to it
Underground Project

Kalkwasser increased to dose every 2 hour, just decided I want to increase stability/consistency throughout the day. With COVID I have forgot its wednesday a few times (this is off day and dose trace instead), so plan to dilute so can also dose daily. I have started my 'undergound project' which is to run everything from garage to living room, therefore larger containers, better dosing, less maintenance as ATO will be unlimited with flood guardian on timer plug etc. Semi Automatic Water Change (button click tank drains to float switch level and then fills up to other float switch level, weekly task) Running tank on dedicated consumer unit so each group will have own amp (lights, pumps, heaters, util etc), Leisure Batteries and trickle charger to handle pumps, wavemakers and a backup heater set at say 22 degrees to maximise battery life. Upgrade Mixing Station to sumthing more stable and always available to me, slight overkill for a 50litre tank but to me its perfect testing ground for 390l system.
Quarantine
Molly was placed into QT, QT was cycled and tested to see what WC was need, evap etc. QT has been quite successful and would work well for nano fish for now which is perfect as I wont need bigger QT until next tank which makes my nano a perfect QT tank. View on QT has improved over the month and things have been learnt, got chatting to humble.fish and have seen certain things. He wants to move away from copper and i didnt want to proactively use copper. I feel like my nano tank will become more a holding/hospital tank. And smaller tanks will be used if require medicine. But right now i see a week of hypo to deworm and observe. Meth Blue for injuries dotxify etc. formalin bath for brook/velvet/ich present, maybe a neoplex/focus for medicated food would be good to have as a broad spectrum antibiotic, maybe general cure as has other benefits and also handles flukes so need for hypo. Not sure but want to observe, but maybe hypo first to deworm and then watch for couple weeks and see where it goes, suppose its a learning curve on the job just like the display.

GHA

GHA has improved, nutrients for entire month have been under 5 and 0.03, mainly 2 and 0. Molly never tackled it but he was impressive CUC, eating the food, biofilm, glass etc. I cud see mollys as permanent residents in QT tank (black molly QT) or maybe one in sump in future build to help keep it clean (frag tank section). Ordered fluconazole to tackle the last of it, have high expectations. He is back in QT, amazing caught in my hand, i remember trying to get a sick clown out it was a full tank breakdown and still a shambles. This guy was a lamb.
Acroporas
They didnt make it, bonsai still here but has bleached, will it come good we will see but ive already wrote them off. Plan to get some more sps in future mainly montis and hysterix. The hysterix that came broke; fleshed up really nicely and is looking good i believe.

Mandarin

Kids fell asleep in car and wife said drive for two hours, didnt have to tell me twice drove over an hour to get to a LFS, seen a mandarin that had been there for 5 months over covid, they dont take live so took my chances. He was skinnier than thought, when got him home and into QT, didnt eat prepared (seen some but nut sustainable) ordered copes for display and QT. He ate the pods like a mad man, different fish. After two weeks i added to display as was too skinny and i cudnt get pods so wanted him in my tank to graze and eat frozen whilst i get more pods to feed him. Mandarin is happy and manoeuvring around the tank, unfortunately a few crabs have dinged him and has lost a good chunk of tail. I have since added more pods at night in hope to get a bloom in few weeks. Also bought a black molly with the mandarin, well didnt my QT get tested -  BABY MOLLYS EVERYWHERE (WELL IT WAS A ROYAL RUMBLE TBH)

Culture
I decided to start a phyto and copepod culture, im not close to my LFS and the closest don't do live food. So i thought since most equipment we have already it be a nice fun project, and ideally be able to throw in some fresh copes weekly. I did the math and was happy enuf that basically it pays for self first time, so I plan on taking copes and water out of culture weekly, and replace that amount with phyto for week. and dose tank with phyto weekly too. Ideally this will self sufficient and phyto copes will keep foever and my harvests wont affect it. Goal is to see my mandarin just big belly and just dinging pods all the time.

Summary
Good month again! Just want to get this GHA cleared out, coral feeding again and start buying corals again to fill her to brim. Keep ticking at underground, and maybe if tank is good ill be able to add a sixline wrasse to it. It push tank to limit but with husbandry and the underground project i think it be okay, especially as only for months as they be moving to 390l within the year fact. 

[mylertitchell]

November 2020
Target
Resolve GHA and get mandarin eating

GHA

Added Reef Flux to tank, removed carbon and left remaining rowa, tank was clear in 2 weeks. 3rd week i did large wc and added purigen instead of carbon and replaced rowaphos. Went straight back to routine.

Feeding Routine
6 Days frozen DIY hybrid mix, 1 day Live food (copes/rotis or brine shrimp), 1 day target feeding with roids and acropower, 1 day  target feeding with roids and phytoplankton. I personally am thinking the red sea ab got better response than acropower but honestly im a sucker for the fluorescents so not really sure.

Cultures

Cultures Upgraded with leds and 3 jars, phyto,copes,rotis. Weekly harvest phyto, remove water and replace with phyto weekly (sumtimes with copes/rotis sumtimes without, hence the brine shrimp) Still learning the true routine, im hoping to be able to get this stable, ten mins once a week and some fresh phyto in fridge every week to dose tank and as backup if i mess up etc. Might upgrade phytoplankton to larger container and use that jar to grow out some brine shrimp too. Just see how plays out, could allow me more wiggle room and be easier on me than to wire routine i have at mo.

More Corals

Crazy Sales and my birthday saw me well. Got Toxic Splatter Hammer, Teal Trachy, green and red acans, war coral and a toxic green splatter favia. The Last 4 were ten pound each delivered to door. What was i suppose to do. Stupid £30 frags down to that, cud not walk past. (Struggling to keep my trachy and candy canes happy, not sure what to do next)

Mandarin
I learnt some stuff about my tank, i didnt have an abundance of copes like i thought i did, amphipods is what my tank was littered with which usually means no copes as they out compete for food, i saw my mandarin struggle to suck one down. Crazy big like woodlouse, the mandarin wouldnt touch frozen and i just cudnt get live here quick enough and he unfortunately didnt make it. Im only now somewhat ready now to tackle a mandarin with my cultures and brineshrimp and alot more knowledge. I thought i was ready for one, but he was definitely far gone, he would of needed to go into my culture jar and clear it, and next one and been full bellied then, not sure if many tank has that true abundance. I will try again, this time keeping in seeded qt tank and target feeding daily and when happy hes happy and healthy start slipping frozen and hope he gets there, few frozen rock frags with frozen copes in them might help replicate nature. Will have to see. If not ill prob not attempt again unless i have that abundance tank and or captive bred ones become readily available here.

Whats next

Im hoping as soon as these corals arrive tomorrow and place that will be hands out of tank and just a normal routine for month and maybe look at getting a mandarin in new year. I have an underground project ive collected enough for now, and have bought an ato and a beautiful awc which just works off float valves and pumps at different levels and should allow weekly wc at push of button (all for next tank) that go 15m long, dosing lines, electric lines the same. So hopefully break ground and start setting the garage up for a Reef Station

[Murphs_Reef]

Did you ever setup your ReefSpace 900?

[mylertitchell]

On 3/16/2021 at 10:49 AM, Murphych said:

Did you ever setup your ReefSpace 900?

OH YES!

 

Nano now in garage awaiting cycle to be complete and nutrients stable before nano gets added to new tank and nano becomes my QT.

[Murphs_Reef]

How you finding it? I love mine