Greg's Reefing Saga ( first frags in )

[ReefGoat]

 

 

First FoTo

[ReefGoat]

[ReefGoat]

but with the good comes the bad. I’ve lost 2 corals from these photos and the red montipora cap is trying to make a comeback. Everything else survived below incident
 

 

So my daughter had the Southern Regional competition for gymnastics a couple weeks ago and we had to go to Knoxville and ended up staying at Gatlinburg for a week and a half. 
 

Right before I went I had setup my doser because I was seeing the Alk drop from 8.9 to around 8.4 over the period of two days. Topping off by hand had been working well but I wouldn’t be here and I didn’t want my father doing anything but feeding my six line wrasse and filling up my ATO.
 

I had my doser calibrated and programmed to handle this fluctuation but I made a fatal error. The nature of my DIY stand and available space in said stand left me putting things where they would fit. Well the way I had it setup somehow caused an auto siphon and I dumped an entire 375ml of seachem fusion PT. 1 into my setup. 
 

I’ve since gotten the tank back on track but lost a couple corals and faded out one that’s hopefully making a come back 

[ReefGoat]

[ReefGoat]

Equipment list updated for anyone who cares or is referencing for their build

 

Tank: Mr Aqua 22g long (Drilled)

Sump: DIY Aqueon 10g w/ Fiji Cube baffs

Overflow: EShopps Eclipse S 

Plumbing: black and white BRS pipe/fittings plumbed by me

ATO: Reef Breeders Prism w/ 2.5g aqueon

Stand: DIY by me

Lighting: 2 AI Prime 16HD

Flow: MP10

Return: Sicce DC pump w/ Wi-Fi control

Heater: Jager Ehiem w/ Ink Bird Wi-Fi

Skimmer: IceCap K-100

UV: Green Killing Machine

Algae Scrubber: Santa Monica HOG1

 

 

 

 

 

[ReefGoat]

My two best growers right now 

[ReefGoat]

So I’ll log what I’ve been consistent on maintenance wise. 
 

Daily: Clean glass, stir sand bed, change floss, Check all equipment and adjust as necessary, Check Alk, dose (Phyto Feast, KZ nano power pack and whatever is needed from the testing). Feed fish flake food and broadcast coral food.

 

Friday: Target feed corals frozen mixture of PE Mysis, PE Calanus and Marine Cusine and Broadcast coral food and Coral snow (DIY mixture during feeding). I’ll also stir the sand and turkey baste the rocks. I usually all let that sit for around 30 mins so the slow eaters get a chance to eat. I usually fire up the pump and throw in a 10 micron filter pad and let that run for around an hour. Then I perform the water change 4 gallons matched temp, salinity and ALK. Clean skimmer cup because it’s usually disgusting by then 
 

after all that I test every parameter and adjust as needed. It’s usually not needed. 
 

I’m currently in the process of bumping up the percentage of my AI Primes 5 percent every two weeks. I was running at 50% but I’ve been slowly ramping it up. I’m at 60% as of this past Friday. 

[ReefGoat]

The bad. 
 

I have aptasia. I draxx them as they get a little big and I finally get tired of them. They’re not at plague levels so I just live with them and kill them every couple water changes. My rocks are all extremely accessible and removable. So I just take out what rock I need to address and I take a sharp pocket knife and a chisel. Then cut off the aptasia and dig out where the foot was. 
 

I have some algae. But I don’t worry about it at all. I pluck it out when a patch gets a little too big for my liking. I take out the rock and break out the toothbrush and scrub it off and treat the area with hydrogen peroxide. When I first had set the tank up the phosphates were always pretty high for my comfort. I’ve now been able to keep them around 0.02 to 0.08. If I test and they’re around 0.02 I usually dose to bring them back up some.

 

 

my sand bed has never really settled in and acts like it wants to get algae infested but never does. I just stir it daily and it’s white again but always back to its slight algae stage when I return home. It’s not bad enough for me to worry about and it never gets worse. But it also never gets better. I attribute this to a young tank type of syndrome and I’m not doing anything crazy to address it.

[ReefGoat]

My approach for all of the above ailments.

 

 

I finally realized after going around and viewing setups in person at really nice LFS all around my state. Not just cruising the internet looking at everyone’s highlight reel of their tanks. 
 

ALL TANKS HAVE SOME ISSUE. Even ones that are beautiful and stunning. If you look really close they have some ailment. They’ll have some aptasia, they’ll have some Bryopsis, they’ll have some algae. It’s not a bad thing and if you stay on top of it you can manage these things. Without taking drastic measures and nuking your tank. Not everyone may agree but I use to think that bryopsis was just a tank killer and it was over if I got it. Well guess what. I’m pretty sure I have some that came in on my TBS rock. As I see a few crop up I pull the rock out scrub it and treat it with peroxide. It’s not even remotely close to taking over my tank and no I never even thought about dumping fluconazole in my tank. 

[Lebowski_]

On 6/4/2023 at 10:00 PM, ReefGoat said:

My approach for all of the above ailments.

 

 

I finally realized after going around and viewing setups in person at really nice LFS all around my state. Not just cruising the internet looking at everyone’s highlight reel of their tanks. 
 

ALL TANKS HAVE SOME ISSUE. Even ones that are beautiful and stunning. If you look really close they have some ailment. They’ll have some aptasia, they’ll have some Bryopsis, they’ll have some algae. It’s not a bad thing and if you stay on top of it you can manage these things. Without taking drastic measures and nuking your tank. Not everyone may agree but I use to think that bryopsis was just a tank killer and it was over if I got it. Well guess what. I’m pretty sure I have some that came in on my TBS rock. As I see a few crop up I pull the rock out scrub it and treat it with peroxide. It’s not even remotely close to taking over my tank and no I never even thought about dumping fluconazole in my tank. 

100% true.

 

I used to do service on a wealthy person's reef. It was stunning, it was even in the paper. Would a TOTM type tank, 750 gallons.

 

What no one saw but what I saw, was it was riddled with all the common pests. I fought cyano, aiptasia galore, GHA....it was a balanced ecosystem with a beast of a skimmer, but this stuff is just natural. Instagram and TOTM exposure makes us think we are failing because our tanks have flaws, but those tanks are unrealistic - we are just seeing a pristine snapshot.

[ReefGoat]

3 hours ago, Lebowski_ said:

100% true.

 

I used to do service on a wealthy person's reef. It was stunning, it was even in the paper. Would a TOTM type tank, 750 gallons.

 

What no one saw but what I saw, was it was riddled with all the common pests. I fought cyano, aiptasia galore, GHA....it was a balanced ecosystem with a beast of a skimmer, but this stuff is just natural. Instagram and TOTM exposure makes us think we are failing because our tanks have flaws, but those tanks are unrealistic - we are just seeing a pristine snapshot.

Exactly true. What I have going right now in my reef is absolutely nothing special I have so much to learn still. But it’s at a point that my last two tanks made me feel like I couldn’t get to.
 

combine that with seeing everyone instagram tanks and it had me down for a while. Thinking I couldn’t do it

[ReefGoat]

Not a whole lot has changed. I’m still hopeless at taking photos of the tank lol. I know they’re horrible but for my skills this is top tier
 

here are some proof of life photos from today. Being my history of being a serial coral killer. I’m pretty proud of some of these corals lol.

 

I almost murdered that bubble gum monster chalice when it was in the Deskmate. It’s slowly making a comeback. It never died but the color completely went away at one point. 
 

 

 

[Lebowski_]

1 hour ago, ReefGoat said:

Not a whole lot has changed. I’m still hopeless at taking photos of the tank lol. I know they’re horrible but for my skills this is top tier
 

here are some proof of life photos from today. Being my history of being a serial coral killer. I’m pretty proud of some of these corals lol.

 

I almost murdered that bubble gum monster chalice when it was in the Deskmate. It’s slowly making a comeback. It never died but the color completely went away at one point. 
 

 

 

 Is that Meteor Shower Cyphastrea in the 3rd pic?

 

As for Instagram…you just gotta make the hobby about you and your interests. Personally I think a lot of insta tanks look too polished and too samey. I much prefer a good build thread, and that’s what this is! Keep up the good work.

[ReefGoat]

I’m not sure about the cyphastrea. None of the corals at the LFS’s I buy from have names. It’s hard to see in my bad pics but it’s baby blue with pink polyps.

 

 

I only have a few from online orders that had names. 

[tmc1313]

Tank looks like it's coming along great! Everything looks healthy with great color from your pics. That third pic Lebowski_ was asking about could be a "bizarro cyphastrea" where the base color is more purple than a "meteor shower". Either way, both are great corals.  I'm just starting a new piece now as mine had gotten stung and them melted away on me. It's one of my favorites that adds some great color. The only bad thing I can say about it is that it's encrusting and once it takes off can really take up some valuable real estate.

[ReefGoat]

3 hours ago, tmc1313 said:

Tank looks like it's coming along great! Everything looks healthy with great color from your pics. That third pic Lebowski_ was asking about could be a "bizarro cyphastrea" where the base color is more purple than a "meteor shower". Either way, both are great corals.  I'm just starting a new piece now as mine had gotten stung and them melted away on me. It's one of my favorites that adds some great color. The only bad thing I can say about it is that it's encrusting and once it takes off can really take up some valuable real estate.

Thank you so much I appreciate that. I’m really enjoying this build. The ocean rock did come with its pitfalls (aptaisia, bryopsis, those crazy things that attack your fish (some kind of isopod?). But with all the horrible things that came on the rock. The stability and “insta reef” it allowed me to create is well worth it. It’s like training wheels. It sucks that the only fish I can have is my six line wrasse but oh well. 
 

for whatever reason the isopods don’t bother him. I wonder if it’s because they roam at night and he’s in his mucus cocoon at night and it wards them off? They attached to my pair of clowns and caused them to perish. Once I have the confidence and build my dream build. It will be a sterile dry rock build. 

[ReefGoat]

This coral is growing so well. 
 

love this dragon soul. It’s very photogenic

[Lebowski_]

Stunning!

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

13 hours ago, ReefGoat said:

This coral is growing so well. 
 

love this dragon soul. It’s very photogenic

Very pretty under actinics! I love how puffy and healthy it is too. 

[ReefGoat]

Whew. Long day after work. I took down the entire sump area and cleaned everything. The sump was getting pretty nasty. Cleaned the skimmer, pump, heater, ato sensor, Inkbird sensors….everything. Also checked on the algae scrubber and it’s finally turning green on the inside.

 

Feels so much better knowing the sump is clean now. Tank turns 4 months old in a couple days. So I guess every 4 months is about the mark I’ll rotate this maintenance in. 

[ReefGoat]

Almost another month gone by. Another near disaster avoided. 

 

I will officially hit the 6 month mark in 9 days. This is the furthest I have ever made it without being over ran by dinoflagellates and i'm pretty proud of myself. My latest near disaster was my Central AC going out for a day and a half. It ended up being the high level water sensor on the drain piping went out and it disabled the system. But my tank heated up pretty good and looked sketchy for a while. But has since rebounded. 

 

The tank has been decently stable from what my tests are showing. I am having to dose 2ml of Calc/Alk per day. My algae scrubber is producing like MAD all of a sudden and I think is a major contributor to why my Phosphates haven't went over 0.05 in several weeks. Occasionally i'll see them down as low as 0.02. That being the margin of error for the Hanna I usually go ahead and dose a couple drops of Nitrate and Phosphates just to keep it registering. I don't want to risk running at 0 phosphates. My main goal is to get more consistent with my frozen feedings. General life has caused it to become too sporadic. 

 

 

I have been getting some GHA patches growing in the display in a couple problem areas on a few rocks. I'm just simply taking them out and scrubbing them like every couple weeks. It's nowhere near plague proportions. I just feel like it's the tank settling in and am just happy its not dinos. I'm staying steady on my maintenance routine  and hoping that by the one year mark I'll be rewarded for it and be able to pack it with some sticks. 

 

 

Update pics to follow. 

[ReefGoat]

Obligatory proof of life photos.

 

6 months oh so close lol

Full tank shot for “almost” most 6 lol

[ReefGoat]

My beautiful orange monti cap may never recover from the disasters it’s faced. But I’ll give it to these other troopers, they’re resilient 

[ml86743]

15 hours ago, ReefGoat said:

My beautiful orange monti cap may never recover from the disasters it’s faced. But I’ll give it to these other troopers, they’re resilient 

Sorry to hear about the cap:(

 

The tank looks wonderful though.  I love your LPS selection.  I've only recently become acquainted with favia/favities and are slowly becoming one of my absolute favorites.   Yours look stunning and the growth is excellent!

[ReefGoat]

Look like a top hat lol

On 7/18/2023 at 9:17 AM, ml86743 said:

Sorry to hear about the cap:(

 

The tank looks wonderful though.  I love your LPS selection.  I've only recently become acquainted with favia/favities and are slowly becoming one of my absolute favorites.   Yours look stunning and the growth is excellent!

Thank you so much! It’s not dead I’m trying to nurse it back to health lol