Jump to content
Coral Vue Hydros

Recommended Posts

Got to do, what you gotta do! Do you have a hole for air? Might swing PH if not, as you need gas exchange.

after this is done I swear you’ll be ready for whatever comes your way! You’ve had quite the experience with this tank. only but good things after this! 

Link to comment
26 minutes ago, Ash1176 said:

Do you have a hole for air? Might swing PH if not, as you need gas exchange.

OOO didnt think of that. It isnt taped closed or anything but I've ripped a hole on the side. Should help with the raising temp too. I have a fan that turns on when it gets too warm but it's not as effective inside a plastic bag.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
2 hours ago, mipster said:

OOO didnt think of that. It isnt taped closed or anything but I've ripped a hole on the side. Should help with the raising temp too. I have a fan that turns on when it gets too warm but it's not as effective inside a plastic bag.

Best time to do a blackout while running fallow, got to look at the bright side! 

Link to comment
Glauber Carvalho

Hi @mipster I'm just meeting now your tank... I'll be here more times, looking for good news! I never had many dinos... they stay quiet in here. But I fighted with ciano lots of time... bad bad creatures 🤯😂

Link to comment
  • mipster changed the title to Back in the game - Fluval Evo 13.5 - Did I defeat the evil dino?

Well I did a 2 and a half day black out, changed the fliter floss frequently and fed VERY heavily to get my nutrients up. I'm talking one cube of Hikari Coral Gumbo frozen once a day and about 1/4 teaspoon of Reef Roids 2-3 times a day. It got my nitrates up to 10 so a little higher then I'd like but I'm not going to do a water change quite yet. I'm going to let it sit a few days now that my lights are back on and see what it does. 

 

I was planning on running UV to help but a fellow local reefer suggested I just try the black out and raising the nutrients alone since A) such a small tank and B) the dino had barely started, there was very little in the tank still so it was very early.

 

So far there are no signs of the dino yesterday or today so I'm hesitantly optimistic!

 

One thing I did notice when I took the garbage bags off is pretty speckles of purple EVERYWHERE!!! YAY CORALINE ALGAE!! 

 

595187969_WhatsAppImage2020-07-11at2_40_33PM.thumb.jpeg.8ccd208589b5fc06ba1753a4fff5fb44.jpeg

 

 

And Burt wanted to say "Hi". I love this guy, he's just too cute.

 

714926424_WhatsAppImage2020-07-11at3_04_50PM.thumb.jpeg.6477d0c0aad3de64c0dc923695da6672.jpeg

 

 

And my beautiful Sunny Ds and Rastas. I love these

 

945165398_WhatsAppImage2020-07-11at2_40_34PM.thumb.jpeg.70347954587804bec6b6d3e810ec0ba0.jpeg1587508915_WhatsAppImage2020-07-11at3_16_54PM.thumb.jpeg.ed5b8236411397947ba0b848744d7a66.jpeg

 

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
  • mipster changed the title to Back in the game - Fluval Evo 13.5 - Algae ID help please

Hey all, I've got this lettuce leafy algae growing. It came in on the frag and I'd tried to remove it all and use peroxide on it before it went in the tank but I must have missed some and it came back. I've also noticed it popping up in other areas of the tank. I've not been able to find an id with google and I'd like to know what can best take care of it. I'm thinking an emerald crab would eat it since it looks like a flat version of bubble algae but I'd like to know exactly what I'm dealing with before I go that route. 

 

1462657038_WhatsAppImage2020-07-12at1_38_44PM.thumb.jpeg.a98243a9dc076af18aa9fd3dd5337349.jpeg

Link to comment
DISQUALIFIED-QQ

Based on the camera angle it nearly looks like ulva (it's literally called sea lettuce). Can you take a snippet out and get a good photo for me to see?

 

For your NO3 10ppm is pretty fine for your system I had 10ppm for a while until I decided to some experimenting with PNSB and other buggies I got for free. Didn't end too great, but made some interesting results for me to remember down the road. Either way from what I heard, it varies. Some say 10; others will say 20...as long you don't hit 0.0 then you should be in the clear from another dinoflagellate outbreak.

 

UVs might work but the term dinoflagellates cover a wide multitude of species. There are benthic and pelagic types, some good some bad.

Link to comment
4 hours ago, Diamonds x Pearls said:

nearly looks like ulva (it's literally called sea lettuce)

Yes that is 100% it. Ok, any suggestions on how to best manage it?

Link to comment
DISQUALIFIED-QQ
17 hours ago, mipster said:

Yes that is 100% it. Ok, any suggestions on how to best manage it?

i actually don't manage ulva as it has occurred and been probably eaten in my tank. I like to believe either my clownfish or snails chomped at the bit. Actually any time ulva came and went it was a cycle of excitement and sadness. I really like ulva as i think it's quite nice to look at; but then somebody ate it up...

 

at that time i think i only had trochus and cerith snails, so it's likely one of them grazed it to nothing.

  • Like 1
Link to comment

I found a bunch of people saying that gold ring cowrie snails are prolific algae eaters and are known to munch on ulva and luckily my LSF had them in stock so I went up and just grabbed one. There isn't a ton of Ulva so I didn't want to get more then the one and not have enough to munch on.

 

Also, these snails are SO WEIRD! I can't get a good shot on my phone but here's one from google. That skin or what ever it is called comes out from the bottom of the shell and comes up the side and then fully retracts when threatened and hiding. I've never seen a snail like this and when I saw it pop up as an ulva eater in my searches and I looked it up I was so confused by what I was looking at lol

 

Cypraeaannulus.jpg.e526fc151db8465587095e992c3afcf3.jpg

 

 

I also picked up a blue porcelain crab. She's so pretty and I love watching her little fan filter feeders working. Lights are off but I'll get a video later.

 

Also, my scarlet snails are really lazy B@$t@rds lol They are 100% alive but they are just lazy sitting around, not pulling their weight at all lol

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
DISQUALIFIED-QQ

Tigahboy has some ridiculously cool photos of his cowrie. That's the special thing about this group of snails. You'll see their soft body envelop their shell. That's how they keep it sparkly and nice looking. That's also how snails grow their shells. The mantle will excrete calcium carbonate shell over time. Fancy that!

Link to comment
  • mipster changed the title to Back in the game - Fluval Evo 13.5 - Is it time to start dosing?

So I did a full test of all my parameters and I think I'm going to have to start dosing sooner then I anticipated...

 

My Nitrates are 2 and my Phosphates are 0.08 and I don't want to allow them to go any lower then that so the evil Dinos don't get a hold of my tank again so I can't do a water change like I was planning on doing tomorrow. I was worried my nutrients were going to be too high because Nitrates were at 10 ppm when I ended the black out and I've been feeding my corals I thought quite heavily every day and instead they have gone down lol 

 

My Magnesium is steady at 1240, it hasn't changed since the last time I measured it on June 13th. My Alkalinity went from 10.4 down to 6.4 and my calcium went from 450 down to 350. I've added quite a few LPS and even 3 SPS corals so I'm not surprised consumption has gone up. 

 

I now need to decide how I want to handle this. I'm going to do some more frequent testing to see what the rate of absorption is and I need to decide what method of replenishment I want to use. Originally I wanted to use Tropic Marine All-For-Reef as a one bottle solution but does that work if my Mag isn't dropping like the other two? I'll need to do some more reading on the product but I loved the idea of only one tube from one single doser going into the tank to help keep things as tidy as possible. 

 

Anyone with more experience care to chime in here? I would love some guidance from the sage reef masters out there.

Link to comment
DISQUALIFIED-QQ
56 minutes ago, mipster said:

So I did a full test of all my parameters and I think I'm going to have to start dosing sooner then I anticipated...

 

My Nitrates are 2 and my Phosphates are 0.08 and I don't want to allow them to go any lower then that so the evil Dinos don't get a hold of my tank again so I can't do a water change like I was planning on doing tomorrow. I was worried my nutrients were going to be too high because Nitrates were at 10 ppm when I ended the black out and I've been feeding my corals I thought quite heavily every day and instead they have gone down lol 

 

My Magnesium is steady at 1240, it hasn't changed since the last time I measured it on June 13th. My Alkalinity went from 10.4 down to 6.4 and my calcium went from 450 down to 350. I've added quite a few LPS and even 3 SPS corals so I'm not surprised consumption has gone up. 

 

I now need to decide how I want to handle this. I'm going to do some more frequent testing to see what the rate of absorption is and I need to decide what method of replenishment I want to use. Originally I wanted to use Tropic Marine All-For-Reef as a one bottle solution but does that work if my Mag isn't dropping like the other two? I'll need to do some more reading on the product but I loved the idea of only one tube from one single doser going into the tank to help keep things as tidy as possible. 

 

Anyone with more experience care to chime in here? I would love some guidance from the sage reef masters out there.

(100% not a sage)

 

Yeah I was enamored by the idea of a single solution dosing program, but I like the flexibility and control of 2 or even 3 part dosing program. I use Reef Fusion 1 and 2 from Seachem. Why I like Fusion 1 is that there's primarily calcium but there's magnesium and the trace elements, so it's a nice package and I've have great results with it in regards to parameters. I also like to think my coralline algae like it a lot as I keep getting new colonies growing on the sand bed. Whenever my calcium kicks up high I can always stop dosing or just use a smaller dose. The same idea applies to the Fusion 2 solution as it's primarily a liquid carbonate. To be fair Fusion 1 is still a gamble in itself assuming that my elemental chemistry is right where it needs to be as it is a solution made of many and not strictly calcium or magnesium.

 

What I assume makes every one of these dosing regimens different is that different makes will produce different concentrations. If you read the label Seachem makes a more potent juice, theoretically therefore you need less mLs for dosing, but sometimes you need to modify the directions to fit the needs of your tank.

 

What I do know is that corals are able to use either calcium or magnesium to bond with carbonate anions to create skeleton. And that magnesium can have buffering capabilities when bonded to calcium carbonate. This really helps with making sure calcium and carbonate behave in water

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Still noobing here, i got a question: once you get your fish in your tank again, you should get higher phos and nitrates from feeding and fish poop, so you’ll get back into your water changes, would these water changes be enough to replenish your big 3 for now? Or are you down so much that a water change won’t change that much of kh, ca and mg? 

I think when the time comes, I’m probably going to go down the 2 part road. 

i need to get an ATO soon though, and you’re right it’s getting really jam packed with cords in the chambers, adding dosing will be even worse. 

Link to comment
DISQUALIFIED-QQ
33 minutes ago, Ash1176 said:

Still noobing here, i got a question: once you get your fish in your tank again, you should get higher phos and nitrates from feeding and fish poop, so you’ll get back into your water changes, would these water changes be enough to replenish your big 3 for now? Or are you down so much that a water change won’t change that much of kh, ca and mg? 

I think when the time comes, I’m probably going to go down the 2 part road. 

i need to get an ATO soon though, and you’re right it’s getting really jam packed with cords in the chambers, adding dosing will be even worse. 

That really depends on your salt mix and the aquarium's "consumption" rate. Even then let's say you get use the reef salt from Red Sea (which probably in the market contains most preexisting minerals), the amount you put into the tank may not afffect your tank's current concentration that greatly as you may want to. Do this subsequently and you may result in diminishing return (because I bet that coralline algae will have something to say about having calcium in the tank). In order to refresh that concentration truly is to do a major water change (over 50%), which becomes too labor intensive.

 

Now if you're solely soft corals then there is a chance that dosing is not required. The reality is water changes probably influence more on the lesser measured trace elements like iodine, iron, potassium, etc. Unless you are dedicated to track every parameter, then doing a regular water change is sufficient.

 

However you are right about being incremental in your purchases. As I didn't buy a 2 part until about a month or two later. (you can go through my journal link at the bottom)

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment

So the majority of my corals are LPS and SPS with some zoas and ricordea mushrooms in there too. And It seemed like over night I suddenly had coraline algae speckling over every bit or rock and I've noticed some on the back glass too. I wouldn't have thought I needed to start dosing so soon but then I was thinking about the fact that I only have about 12 gallons of water in the tank.

 

Now I'm not sure if my thought process is correct here so someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Let's say I have 450 ppm of calcium in 12 gallons of water and 450 ppm of calcium in 100 gallons of water in side by side tanks with the exact same types and amount of corals. If those corals are using up the calcium at the same rate, would the depletion show at a much more rapid rate in the 12 gallon tank because even though there is the same concentration of calcium in the water, there is less calcium in the 12 gallons because of the lesser volume? Does my weird brain have that right?

 

I have a reefer buddy I met through my local facebook club and he doesn't think my tank could have possibly gone from 10.4 down to 6.4 dKH in a month. He thinks I should do a water change but I wouldn't want to do more then a 20% and I don't think it will help that much. I'm willing to try but would want to crazy over feed the day before to get my nutrients up so the water change doesn't bottom them out lol DINOS WILL NEVER BE ALLOWED BACK IN MY TANK!!!!!

 

I use Red Sea Coral Pro for my salt mix and I'll test the mixed water before adding it to see where the levels are at. 

Link to comment
11 minutes ago, mipster said:

Now I'm not sure if my thought process is correct here so someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Let's say I have 450 ppm of calcium in 12 gallons of water and 450 ppm of calcium in 100 gallons of water in side by side tanks with the exact same types and amount of corals. If those corals are using up the calcium at the same rate, would the depletion show at a much more rapid rate in the 12 gallon tank because even though there is the same concentration of calcium in the water, there is less calcium in the 12 gallons because of the lesser volume? Does my weird brain have that right?

 

 

That makes sense to me, the rate of consumption should be faster in the 12 gallon than in a bigger tank, right? 
 

doing like a 25% water change, and then testing will give you an idea of what is happening with addition of minerals through WC and then testing again maybe a day to see what has been consumed 

Link to comment

Again I may be way out of my league here: but because there was no light for a few days, is it possible for the corals to intake more kh, ca, mg than usual? I’ve read that a lot of people do their dosing at night because that’s when the corals use it up more... j

Link to comment
DISQUALIFIED-QQ
10 hours ago, mipster said:

So the majority of my corals are LPS and SPS with some zoas and ricordea mushrooms in there too. And It seemed like over night I suddenly had coraline algae speckling over every bit or rock and I've noticed some on the back glass too. I wouldn't have thought I needed to start dosing so soon but then I was thinking about the fact that I only have about 12 gallons of water in the tank.

 

Now I'm not sure if my thought process is correct here so someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Let's say I have 450 ppm of calcium in 12 gallons of water and 450 ppm of calcium in 100 gallons of water in side by side tanks with the exact same types and amount of corals. If those corals are using up the calcium at the same rate, would the depletion show at a much more rapid rate in the 12 gallon tank because even though there is the same concentration of calcium in the water, there is less calcium in the 12 gallons because of the lesser volume? Does my weird brain have that right?

 

I have a reefer buddy I met through my local facebook club and he doesn't think my tank could have possibly gone from 10.4 down to 6.4 dKH in a month. He thinks I should do a water change but I wouldn't want to do more then a 20% and I don't think it will help that much. I'm willing to try but would want to crazy over feed the day before to get my nutrients up so the water change doesn't bottom them out lol DINOS WILL NEVER BE ALLOWED BACK IN MY TANK!!!!!

 

I use Red Sea Coral Pro for my salt mix and I'll test the mixed water before adding it to see where the levels are at. 

To be fair zooxanthellae is a symbiotic dinoflagellate. haha.

 

That's actually something i'd like to try. 100 vs 10 gallons. However this situation is assuming your coral biomass is exactly the same. The only variable you change is the volume of water. Now ppm is actually a really strange unit. In the science world its considered to closer to ratios than solid measures like mass per volume (mg/mL for example). If I were to make a guess, yes a smaller water box of a given concentration of Ca2+ would deplete faster given a set coral biomass that is exactly the same as both test environments.

 

Just try a small water change. Doesn't hurt.

 

Generally corals are nocturnal so it makes sense to me that your drop in alkalinity happened. During the day most of the activity is your zooxanthellae are producing food for itself and the coral organism. At night, the feeding tentacles are out and you really will see tentacle action from your LPS. Given that clue, in general terms, coral are up to something at night: eating, drinking, partying, etc. In that case, it is reasonable to guess that building coral skeleton is part of that nocturnal operation. Certainly you should see alk to drop as that is the generalized measure of carbonates, a part of building coral skeleton - calcium/magnesium carbonate. (Update from my aquarium my magnesium and calcium levels dropped off during blackout so something happened)

7 hours ago, Ash1176 said:

Again I may be way out of my league here: but because there was no light for a few days, is it possible for the corals to intake more kh, ca, mg than usual? I’ve read that a lot of people do their dosing at night because that’s when the corals use it up more... j

I just dose when I wake up because I'll forget later in the day haha.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
11 hours ago, Ash1176 said:

 Or are you down so much that a water change won’t change that much of kh, ca and mg?

I'm currently mixing up some water for a change. I'm going to measure my display before water change, I'm going to measure the new water and then I'm going to measure the display after the 20% ish water change and see what I'm dealing with. 

 

 

 

I just got 4 new corals..... I'm quickly running out of room! Soon it's going to be time to just sit back and let it grow.

 

What all do you think I picked up??

 

I'll give you some hints...

 

Clue one:   🎃

 

 

Clue two:   ☀️

 

 

Clue three:    🌅

 

Clue four:    Picture1.png.786e841b8bea592838325651721154ef.png

  • Like 1
Link to comment
54 minutes ago, mipster said:

I'm currently mixing up some water for a change. I'm going to measure my display before water change, I'm going to measure the new water and then I'm going to measure the display after the 20% ish water change and see what I'm dealing with. 


solid plan! At least you’ll know where you’re at and take it from there 

13 minutes ago, Diamonds x Pearls said:

I did some digging around @mipster . Here's a neat video from last years MACNA that can help explain some more about Mg, Ca, and Alk.

 

+1 great vid especially when he goes into 3 part and how salinity gets affected 

Link to comment
  • mipster changed the title to The not an Evo anymore Redemption Reef - Meet Hector

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...