Adventures in keeping a SPS reef

[Llorgon]

4 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Out of curiosity, does adding phyto knock down the foam in the skimmer like when other feeding happens?

I haven't checked before, but I made sure to watch it today. I checked for about 5 mins after adding the live phyto and didn't see any noticeable drop in foam in the skimmer.

[Llorgon]

But of an up and down day for tank related things. 

 

I went snail and coral searching today, I placed an order for 10 astrea and a couple soft corals, but that was cancelled a few hours later it was cancelled since neither the corals or the snails we're actually available. I'm still working with them to see what they actually have in stock.

 

I did find some corals through another place, I've ordered from them before and have had good experiences. Unfortunately most of the soft corals aren't that cheap. So I picked up a few chalices and cyphastreas that were on sale for $9 each. I also got an acan frag pack(6 frags) and xenia and gsp. I figure the gsp could go on the back glass and help take over that area from the algae. And the xenia can be isolated to the one rock in the back left of the tank. 

 

What do people use for glueing frags to rocks/glass? I normally buy the coral glue form the LFS, but that tends to be hit and miss on if the coral actually stays glued.

 

I've also now moved almost all corals out of the 25g. Today I moved a montipora and the rest of the acans. Acans seem to be adjusting well and I fed them some reef roids tonight.

 

I finally got to testing my water again.

Salinity: 1.025

Temp: 78

Alk: 8.3

Cal: 470

Mag: 1380

Nitrate: 0

Phosphate: 0.02

 

Really frustrating on the nutrients, but I was expecting them to be low since the algae was slowly getting better. I did add some nitrate.

 

The current corals and tank is looking better than it has for awhile. I'm tempted to leave things as they are this week and see how nutrients are doing next week. I have been trying to feed all the corals reef roids a few times a week to maybe offset the current low nutrients. Please tell me if that is poor logic!

 

[mcarroll]

12 hours ago, Llorgon said:

What do people use for glueing frags to rocks/glass? I normally buy the coral glue form the LFS, but that tends to be hit and miss on if the coral actually stays glued.

Ideally the coral will put its own base down, making the glue's presence moot after a short time.  Almost any typical glue will hold that long.

 

If you're dealing with a coral that doesnt base, then it's trickier.  

 

Super glue gel is the best simple option, IMO.  Still can't be counted on to hold forever.  

 

Tunze's "Coral Gum Instant might be as good or better at holding and is just about as easy as super glue, but I haven't tried it yet.  It gets a lot of good reviews.

 

Two-part epoxy is better in some cases as it cures much harder/stronger.....but it's not very sticky so initial mounting can be iffy.

 

If you google it, some folks are mixing epoxy and super glue and that seems to get better results that either one alone....but also not something that I've tried.

 

Tunze also has magnetically mounted frag racks you could use.....others make similar items.  Depending how big the frag is, you could even just mount a coral to a Tunze magnet holder.

 

12 hours ago, Llorgon said:

Nitrate: 0

Phosphate: 0.02

 

Really frustrating on the nutrients, but I was expecting them to be low since the algae was slowly getting better. I did add some nitrate.

 

The current corals and tank is looking better than it has for awhile. I'm tempted to leave things as they are this week and see how nutrients are doing next week. I have been trying to feed all the corals reef roids a few times a week to maybe offset the current low nutrients. Please tell me if that is poor logic!

A little reef roids is OK.   But it cannot replace liquid nutrients quite yet.  

 

There's basically no certainty that your corals will eat any of it.  Plus, you're trying to encourage non-pest algae and other critters that also need/appreciate the dissolved nutrients.

 

You really need to dose nutrients every day – even if you dose too much because you couldn't stop to test before dosing.   Too much is NOT a problem (it'll get used!!)....only these returns to zero are BAD BAD BAD BAD. 😉 

 

So figure out an amount to dose every day, and get started on a daily routine.  Test when you can, and make adjustments to your dose as needed.  But don't skip dosing anymore....not even if you don't have time to test. 👍

[Llorgon]

4 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Ideally the coral will put its own base down, making the glue's presence moot after a short time.  Almost any typical glue will hold that long.

I've had bad luck with glues that don't seem to hold more than a week.

 

4 hours ago, mcarroll said:

 

If you're dealing with a coral that doesnt base, then it's trickier.  

 

Super glue gel is the best simple option, IMO.  Still can't be counted on to hold forever.  

 

Tunze's "Coral Gum Instant might be as good or better at holding and is just about as easy as super glue, but I haven't tried it yet.  It gets a lot of good reviews.

 

Two-part epoxy is better in some cases as it cures much harder/stronger.....but it's not very sticky so initial mounting can be iffy.

 

If you google it, some folks are mixing epoxy and super glue and that seems to get better results that either one alone....but also not something that I've tried.

 

Tunze also has magnetically mounted frag racks you could use.....others make similar items.  Depending how big the frag is, you could even just mount a coral to a Tunze magnet holder.

I'll look into those. Thanks

 

4 hours ago, mcarroll said:

 

A little reef roids is OK.   But it cannot replace liquid nutrients quite yet.  

 

There's basically no certainty that your corals will eat any of it.  Plus, you're trying to encourage non-pest algae and other critters that also need/appreciate the dissolved nutrients.

 

You really need to dose nutrients every day – even if you dose too much because you couldn't stop to test before dosing.   Too much is NOT a problem (it'll get used!!)....only these returns to zero are BAD BAD BAD BAD. 😉 

 

So figure out an amount to dose every day, and get started on a daily routine.  Test when you can, and make adjustments to your dose as needed.  But don't skip dosing anymore....not even if you don't have time to test. 👍

Darn, I was hoping the reef roids could help instead of liquid nutrients.

 

I make a thick paste of the reef roids and drop it onto the corals. The acans such all for sure eat it. Not sure about the lone hammer coral that is left.

 

I did add some nitrate last night to raise it up from zero. I need to get more though. I'll dose a bit of phosphate tonight.

 

Talked again with the LFS. They are out of astrea and cerith, but they have trochus. At $5.45 each they aren't cheap like the $2 astrea and cerith snails. I will see if I can pick up a few of them though.

[PJPS]

I am in between on this. I definitely agree you should dose so that you’re always properly off zero. But in terms of maintenance, I’d slowly feed while reducing the dosing.  So for phosphates, I’d start putting in reef roids , while dosing, less phosphates and testing to see where I am.

 

In my case, phosphates are dealt with with oyster feast just because the SPS like it. I’m hoping min s is the same.  For nitrates I use more complete frozen (reef frenzy).

 

That being said, I don’t know that it matters how you put the nutrients in the tank. It’s far more important that you have the readings.

 

here’s a story from the recent past. My phosphate reading was 0.35, my reaction was essentially that’s a bit high better do something about that kind of. My phosphate reading a few weeks later was 0.03, my reaction was relatively to shit my pants pull my GFO, and feed some reef roids.  All that to say I don’t really care how high my nutrients get within reason, but getting anywhere near zero is cause for immediate action, to me anyway 😊

[mcarroll]

4 hours ago, Llorgon said:

At $5.45 each they aren't cheap

If you could pay someone a fixed amount of money to to completely clean your tank for you....wouldn't you?  These guys will do more than just clean your tank once though.

 

Those Trochus might be more $ than Astreas, but they are just about worth their weight in gold, IMO....so still a bargain at $5.  🙂  

 

I think you'll agree once you have them – bring home as many as you can without breaking the bank.  (Six?  Twelve?)

 

[Jaren45]

The price of trochus has been going up a lot, some stores around me are having to charge $7 or $8 a piece..

 

Luckily they reproduce pretty quickly in an established reef tank, and they seem to live forever too.

[Llorgon]

4 hours ago, PJPS said:

I am in between on this. I definitely agree you should dose so that you’re always properly off zero. But in terms of maintenance, I’d slowly feed while reducing the dosing.  So for phosphates, I’d start putting in reef roids , while dosing, less phosphates and testing to see where I am.

That's kind of what I was thinking as well. I'll try and find a happy medium.

4 hours ago, PJPS said:

 

In my case, phosphates are dealt with with oyster feast just because the SPS like it. I’m hoping min s is the same.  For nitrates I use more complete frozen (reef frenzy).

 

That being said, I don’t know that it matters how you put the nutrients in the tank. It’s far more important that you have the readings.

 

here’s a story from the recent past. My phosphate reading was 0.35, my reaction was essentially that’s a bit high better do something about that kind of. My phosphate reading a few weeks later was 0.03, my reaction was relatively to shit my pants pull my GFO, and feed some reef roids.  All that to say I don’t really care how high my nutrients get within reason, but getting anywhere near zero is cause for immediate action, to me anyway 😊

Generally that's how I would do things, but mostly because every tank I have had until this one has had the issue of too many nutrients and not the constant hovering near 0 like this one.

1 hour ago, mcarroll said:

If you could pay someone a fixed amount of money to to completely clean your tank for you....wouldn't you?  These guys will do more than just clean your tank once though.

 

Those Trochus might be more $ than Astreas, but they are just about worth their weight in gold, IMO....so still a bargain at $5.  🙂  

 

I think you'll agree once you have them – bring home as many as you can without breaking the bank.  (Six?  Twelve?)

 

That's a good point. I put in an order for 10. They should be shipped out Monday if all goes well. 

 

I can focus on getting as much of the long stuff out until then.

57 minutes ago, Jaren45 said:

The price of trochus has been going up a lot, some stores around me are having to charge $7 or $8 a piece..

 

Luckily they reproduce pretty quickly in an established reef tank, and they seem to live forever too.

I've seen that at a few online places as well. The place I normally get snails/fish from has had pretty consistent prices so I put up with issues with ordering things that turn out to be out of stock.

 

I've never had trochus reproduce in my tank... Or live long either. Hopefully this batch is different 

[mcarroll]

8 hours ago, Llorgon said:

That's kind of what I was thinking as well. I'll try and find a happy medium.

👍Feeding specific polyps as you mentioned before is one thing.  Do it if you want.  But I would not expect to dent your tank's PO4 budget that way.

 

👎Broadcast feeding to increase nutrients is a different thing.  Most of the food goes to waste and gets broken down by bacteria, in effect releasing most of the nutrients into the water.  This is usually just called "over feeding" and is correctly an avoided practice.

 

The problems with broadcast feeding are several...some of which are specific to your situation:

• it's a totally uncontrolled "dose" of N and P, which are the nutrients your tank actually needs.  (Mostly P, actually.)
• it's a "dose" that takes time to become available while your corals are already suffering or on the borderline of dying.
  • Remember that phosphate is used intensively in the photosynthesis process.  It goes very badly for the coral when P becomes limiting...to the point of mortality if it goes on long enough/severely enough.
  • My Favorite Analogy: A coral having no P for photosynthesis is like you running your car's engine without oil.  The results are kinda similar – eventually there is a meltdown and it's not recoverable.  Fatality.
• It's an uncontrolled dose of nutrients other than N and P, which tends to cause cyano blooms.
• Dosing only the nutrients in need (N and P) is generally VERY inexpensive compared to overfeeding.

The list goes on, but given the list so far, I'm not sure it's worth making the whole list right here. 

 

This scenario of trying to use overfeeding has been covered A LOT in that dino thead, and is also something that gets discussed here on nanro-reef quite a bit in regards to cyano blooms.  Some folks do use it, but the facts would suggest doing otherwise....treating it as regular over feeding.

 

If you're still into using over-feeding to add nutrients...

• ordinary flake food is a better/cheaper route.  
• Or ESV's spray-dried phyto.
• Even live phyto might be more economical
  • ...and possibly better from an uptake/usage standpoint, which would make it WAY more economical.
• But direct, regular dosing of liquid nutrients is still the most direct AND cheapest way to do what needs to be done.  

BTW, put the nutrients in your ATO water if you don't have a doser!  Add enough to last for the whole time the ATO reservoir lasts.  Make sure you dose the tank up at the same time you set up the ATO reservoir this way.  And still test just in case you need to increase the concentration in the ATO water.

👍

[rimga123]

No going to lie, I envy your patience with this tank. I probably would have restarted it 5 times by now.

I follow this thread the most closely here on nano-reed, always exciting to see a new notification with an update. I really hope that this low nutrient, algae outbreak and coral death nightmare will be soon just a distance memory.

was just thinking that it would be cool to see a timelaps of the algae growth. would really put in perspective how fast it grows.

 

[Llorgon]

On 2/2/2023 at 4:47 AM, mcarroll said:

👍Feeding specific polyps as you mentioned before is one thing.  Do it if you want.  But I would not expect to dent your tank's PO4 budget that way.

Ok. Good to know. I target feed the reef roids most of it the corals eat, some escapes.

 

On 2/2/2023 at 4:47 AM, mcarroll said:

 

👎Broadcast feeding to increase nutrients is a different thing.  Most of the food goes to waste and gets broken down by bacteria, in effect releasing most of the nutrients into the water.  This is usually just called "over feeding" and is correctly an avoided practice.

 

The problems with broadcast feeding are several...some of which are specific to your situation:

• it's a totally uncontrolled "dose" of N and P, which are the nutrients your tank actually needs.  (Mostly P, actually.)
• it's a "dose" that takes time to become available while your corals are already suffering or on the borderline of dying.
  • Remember that phosphate is used intensively in the photosynthesis process.  It goes very badly for the coral when P becomes limiting...to the point of mortality if it goes on long enough/severely enough.
  • My Favorite Analogy: A coral having no P for photosynthesis is like you running your car's engine without oil.  The results are kinda similar – eventually there is a meltdown and it's not recoverable.  Fatality.
• It's an uncontrolled dose of nutrients other than N and P, which tends to cause cyano blooms.
• Dosing only the nutrients in need (N and P) is generally VERY inexpensive compared to overfeeding.

The list goes on, but given the list so far, I'm not sure it's worth making the whole list right here. 

 

This scenario of trying to use overfeeding has been covered A LOT in that dino thead, and is also something that gets discussed here on nanro-reef quite a bit in regards to cyano blooms.  Some folks do use it, but the facts would suggest doing otherwise....treating it as regular over feeding.

 

If you're still into using over-feeding to add nutrients...

• ordinary flake food is a better/cheaper route.  
• Or ESV's spray-dried phyto.
• Even live phyto might be more economical
  • ...and possibly better from an uptake/usage standpoint, which would make it WAY more economical.
• But direct, regular dosing of liquid nutrients is still the most direct AND cheapest way to do what needs to be done.  

I broadcast feed the frozen food at night, but most of that seems to be eaten by the fish and I do dose live phyto into the tank every day, but from the numbers that doesn't seem to be making nutrients go up much.

 

On 2/2/2023 at 4:47 AM, mcarroll said:

BTW, put the nutrients in your ATO water if you don't have a doser!  Add enough to last for the whole time the ATO reservoir lasts.  Make sure you dose the tank up at the same time you set up the ATO reservoir this way.  And still test just in case you need to increase the concentration in the ATO water.

👍

Adding to the ATO is what I have been doing. Usually a cap of neophos and 2 for nitrate.

 

On 2/2/2023 at 5:38 AM, rimga123 said:

No going to lie, I envy your patience with this tank. I probably would have restarted it 5 times by now.

I follow this thread the most closely here on nano-reed, always exciting to see a new notification with an update. I really hope that this low nutrient, algae outbreak and coral death nightmare will be soon just a distance memory.

was just thinking that it would be cool to see a timelaps of the algae growth. would really put in perspective how fast it grows.

 

I have/am Strongly considered restarting or just getting out of the hobby all together. I gave myself until the sprint to see if things turn around before I make the final call.

 

A timelaps would be interesting, yet depressing thing to watch how fast the algae grows. I can tell just week over week it's really freaking fast! Also, I'm glad this thread is providing you with some excitement.

[Llorgon]

Onto tank update, for the first time in almost a year, I bought some corals. I've been scraping the rocks with a knife to get the algae off which seems to do a slower, but better job and on the advice of @mcarroll I'm going to try covering those patches with coral.

I didn't pick up anything fancy or expensive. I grabbed a bunch of $10 corals which were the cheapest I could find. I was expecting soft corals, but with the exception of gsp and xenia... Which I did take a chance on, most of the corals are encrusting chalices and montis and alike. I did buy a 6 pack of acan frags because I like acans, I can generally grow them well and it was reasonably priced.

 

New corals are:

Meteor Shower Cyphastrea

Pink Rim Orange Plating Montipora

Dual Color Cyphastrea

Green Swirl Chalice

Australian Chalice

Wysiwyg Acan 6 Piece Frag Pack

Green Star Polyps

Pulsing Xenia Coral

 

I glued them to the rocks last night so we will see how things go. The xenia is isolated to a single rock and I'm hoping the gsp will grow on the back glass and take over some room there from the algae.

I also picked up some neonitro so I can keep nitrates from hitting 0!

[Llorgon]

And some updated tank shots.

[rimga123]

Tank looks better with corals!

It seems like soft corals are starting to trend and i absolutely hate that. Everything that is even a little unusual, green or blue hues, starting to fetch serious money and are somehow much harder to find. Back in a day you couldn't give away them...

I am sure that once Xenia takes off your algae problem will start to improve rapidly.

tank looks better with every update IMO, having corals makes a big difference too!

[mcarroll]

14 hours ago, Llorgon said:

Adding to the ATO is what I have been doing. Usually a cap of neophos and 2 for nitrate.

One dose (a capful) spread over that time isn't going to amount to anything.  Let's double check something...

 

Is this what your bottle of NeoPhos says for dosing instructions?  Their website doesn't have specific instructions for some reason.  Usually they do.  (Your's may be different from this – post details if it is...it'll change all the math below.):

Quote

1 ml NEOPHOS will increase the phosphate concentration in 1 US-gallon (~3.8 L) by ~1.2 ppm

1 capful (5 mL) in 120 gallons of water will only raise PO4 from 0.00 ppm up to 0.06.

 

100 mL would raise your PO4 from 0.00 up to 1.2 ppm.

50 mL would be 0.60 ppm

25 mL would be 0.30 ppm.

12.5 mL would be about 0.15 ppm.  <-- This is almost three times the size of the dose you're adding, and would be just about the right target level.

 

If 5mL was one day's worth, then you should be adding at least 30-40 mL of NeoPhos to your ATO....assuming your reservoir lasts about 5 days.  (Adjust the mL up or down based on the actual time you ATO reservoir lasts on average.)

 

 

[Llorgon]

14 hours ago, rimga123 said:

Tank looks better with corals!

It seems like soft corals are starting to trend and i absolutely hate that. Everything that is even a little unusual, green or blue hues, starting to fetch serious money and are somehow much harder to find. Back in a day you couldn't give away them...

I am sure that once Xenia takes off your algae problem will start to improve rapidly.

tank looks better with every update IMO, having corals makes a big difference too!

I agree the tank looks much better and less depressing with corals! I can also feed the acans which is a nice change from the only interaction I have with the tank being algae remover.

 

I was shocked at how expensive the soft corals we're. I was also surprised at how nice some of them were as well. Maybe when I redo the 25g it will become an easy soft corals tank.

13 hours ago, mcarroll said:

One dose (a capful) spread over that time isn't going to amount to anything.  Let's double check something...

 

Is this what your bottle of NeoPhos says for dosing instructions?  Their website doesn't have specific instructions for some reason.  Usually they do.  (Your's may be different from this – post details if it is...it'll change all the math below.):

1 capful (5 mL) in 120 gallons of water will only raise PO4 from 0.00 ppm up to 0.06.

 

100 mL would raise your PO4 from 0.00 up to 1.2 ppm.

50 mL would be 0.60 ppm

25 mL would be 0.30 ppm.

12.5 mL would be about 0.15 ppm.  <-- This is almost three times the size of the dose you're adding, and would be just about the right target level.

 

If 5mL was one day's worth, then you should be adding at least 30-40 mL of NeoPhos to your ATO....assuming your reservoir lasts about 5 days.  (Adjust the mL up or down based on the actual time you ATO reservoir lasts on average.)

 

 

I attached a picture of the neophos bottle instructions.

 

I usually add 3 capfuls of nitrate and 2 phosphate after water changes. I should have mentioned that. Adding to the ato seems to be enough to keep phosphate around 0.08ppm. unless I don't add any to the ato like I did in the last couple of weeks.

 

I did my normal weekly water change again today. I'm seeing less algae sucked out so that's a good thing. All new corals seem to be doing well so far. I also cleaned off my powerheads of algae and other crap and replaced my activated carbon which I had been forgetting to do.

 

Since I have the new corals, I wanted to double check my doser settings. But the reefBeat app had logged me out and I can't get back in since their forgot password flow is broken... So I wait for support. I like the doser, but the app isn't great.

 

I'm also running low on salt and trying to decide what brand to go with. Locally, I can get instant ocean or Fritz. But neither are reliably in stock to not have to switch between the two constantly. I'm finishing up the blue bucket of red sea and I have also tried tropic Marin which I liked, but at $150 + shipping it's pretty pricey.

 

When reviewing my latest n-doc test, I noticed it said dkh was 6.8, but my hanna checker has been saying 8 for months now. I wonder if an inaccurate hanna checker could have caused my issues?

[mcarroll]

3 hours ago, Llorgon said:

I attached a picture of the neophos bottle instructions.

Had these photos from another conversation....the unredacted part is the only relevant part – the rest relates to a carbon dosing scheme we're not participating in.  

 

(NeoPhos is on the right.)

 

So if 1 mL per gallon is 100 mL in your case (which is 20 capfuls) then that is gonna raise your water by 0.25 ppm.  

 

0.25 ppm is exactly what we want.   You should be dosing 100 mL to get there.  It's possible one decent sized dose like that may resolve things, or at least put a damper on demand.    

 

We should have checked dose calculations sooner – this quantity is what we've been shooting for since you started dosing P.  👍

 

3 hours ago, Llorgon said:

I usually add 3 capfuls of nitrate and 2 phosphate after water changes.

That's about 10 mL of NeoPhos, or enough to raise the water by about 0.025.  Too little by a whole order of magnitude.

 

You really have to up the dose rate.  This is why you keep finding the levels back at zero, or near-zero....you're still kinda slowly trickling out the nutrients rather than knocking out the problem.

 

With the new coral additions, nailing this is even more crucial.

 

3 hours ago, Llorgon said:

I'm also running low on salt and trying to decide what brand to go with. Locally, I can get instant ocean or Fritz. But neither are reliably in stock to not have to switch between the two constantly. I'm finishing up the blue bucket of red sea and I have also tried tropic Marin which I liked, but at $150 + shipping it's pretty pricey.

Hard for me to argue against using what you can get locally.  

 

Fritz seems like a decent option....one of the Fritz options isn't too far off from Instant Ocean's formulation, so switching wouldn't bother me too much.

 

3 hours ago, Llorgon said:

When reviewing my latest n-doc test, I noticed it said dkh was 6.8, but my hanna checker has been saying 8 for months now. I wonder if an inaccurate hanna checker could have caused my issues?

Yes, it's possible.  Checkers require lots of attention to detail (eg fingerprints or dust on the vial, etc) to get reliable results.

 

If you can read the results of a Salifert alk test (some folks have trouble), consider trying that for at least one set of reagents.

 

 

[PJPS]

Looks much better! 

[Llorgon]

On 2/4/2023 at 8:33 PM, mcarroll said:

Had these photos from another conversation....the unredacted part is the only relevant part – the rest relates to a carbon dosing scheme we're not participating in.  

 

(NeoPhos is on the right.)

 

So if 1 mL per gallon is 100 mL in your case (which is 20 capfuls) then that is gonna raise your water by 0.25 ppm.  

 

0.25 ppm is exactly what we want.   You should be dosing 100 mL to get there.  It's possible one decent sized dose like that may resolve things, or at least put a damper on demand.    

YA, math checks out on that. I tested my water tonight and phosphate was at 0.04ppm, so I will need to up that. The algae is much better when it is lower though. Nitrate is at 5ppm, so that's good. The snails I ordered should ship today so once they arrive and are in the tank I will add the bigger dose of phosphate. That way there should be some hungry cuc to eat any incoming algae.

On 2/4/2023 at 8:33 PM, mcarroll said:

 

We should have checked dose calculations sooner – this quantity is what we've been shooting for since you started dosing P.  👍

 

That's about 10 mL of NeoPhos, or enough to raise the water by about 0.025.  Too little by a whole order of magnitude.

 

You really have to up the dose rate.  This is why you keep finding the levels back at zero, or near-zero....you're still kinda slowly trickling out the nutrients rather than knocking out the problem.

 

With the new coral additions, nailing this is even more crucial.

 

Hard for me to argue against using what you can get locally.  

 

Fritz seems like a decent option....one of the Fritz options isn't too far off from Instant Ocean's formulation, so switching wouldn't bother me too much.

 

Yes, it's possible.  Checkers require lots of attention to detail (eg fingerprints or dust on the vial, etc) to get reliable results.

 

If you can read the results of a Salifert alk test (some folks have trouble), consider trying that for at least one set of reagents.

 

 

I don't have a non expired Alkalinity salifert test kit. I will have to order one. I tried a few tests with the hanna checker, all 3 times I got 8 dkh. So at least I am consistent in my steps...

On 2/4/2023 at 10:29 PM, PJPS said:

Looks much better! 

Thanks. Here's hoping it will turn a corner for the better!

[PJPS]

Add a few more batches of snails as funds allow.  Maybe an urchin or two.  Manual removal until your herbivores have it under control.  Just remember messing with your nutrients won’t do anything for your algae. But it will throw your tank into a big hissy fit so.

 

anything too long nothing will touch you’ll have to pull it out manually at some point. Brightwell probably has 1 million products to get rid of algae, I assure you none of them work.

 

Your tank will turn as the biology falls in line.  Once your food chain is working, it’ll have that healthy glow.  You’re doing great so far 👍🏻

[Llorgon]

On 2/6/2023 at 3:55 PM, PJPS said:

Add a few more batches of snails as funds allow.  Maybe an urchin or two.  Manual removal until your herbivores have it under control.  Just remember messing with your nutrients won’t do anything for your algae. But it will throw your tank into a big hissy fit so.

 

anything too long nothing will touch you’ll have to pull it out manually at some point. Brightwell probably has 1 million products to get rid of algae, I assure you none of them work.

 

Your tank will turn as the biology falls in line.  Once your food chain is working, it’ll have that healthy glow.  You’re doing great so far 👍🏻

The 10 snails I ordered arrived yesterday morning and they were in the tank cruising around yesterday.

 

I've been working on getting rid of the long stuff, I'll have to do a few more pullings of algae before I go on vacation next week. That will probably be the real test is how it does with me away for 10 days.

[Llorgon]

Came back from the week long vacation in Hawaii to the tank looking like this...

 

I'm about ready to call it quits. I need more salt, phosphate and nitrate reagent as well.

[rimga123]

On the bright side corals seem to be looking healthy!

i would have expected more algae growth in 10 days, but this is ample too.

you thinking about getting out of hobby or just restarting?

[Llorgon]

6 hours ago, rimga123 said:

On the bright side corals seem to be looking healthy!

i would have expected more algae growth in 10 days, but this is ample too.

you thinking about getting out of hobby or just restarting?

Eh, most of the new encrusting corals I got aren't looking great or have completely lost colour. Also the super glue I used doesn't seem to stick well a few corals have come unglued already.

 

Acans are doing alright and same with the xenia and gsp. I really need a way of getting the algae off the corals/plugs. Anyone know of any dips that would work.

 

I'm not sure if I'm going to restart or just give up. I currently have 2 tanks that look like crap and have been more of a chore than enjoyment for awhile now.

 

The only reason why I don't get rid of the small tank is I have the first 2 fish I bought in there and I don't want to get rid of them.

 

I may just restart both and start from scratch or close to it.

[PJPS]

19 minutes ago, Llorgon said:

Eh, most of the new encrusting corals I got aren't looking great or have completely lost colour. Also the super glue I used doesn't seem to stick well a few corals have come unglued already.

 

Acans are doing alright and same with the xenia and gsp. I really need a way of getting the algae off the corals/plugs. Anyone know of any dips that would work.

 

I'm not sure if I'm going to restart or just give up. I currently have 2 tanks that look like crap and have been more of a chore than enjoyment for awhile now.

 

The only reason why I don't get rid of the small tank is I have the first 2 fish I bought in there and I don't want to get rid of them.

 

I may just restart both and start from scratch or close to it.

H202 kills algae, paint it on the plug only with a qtip (or cut the plug off).  Your coral lives off the algae inside it, keep that in mind when you read into peroxide dips and tank treatments.  If you're killing algae, you're killing what keeps the coral alive too.  Many recover just fine, but I can break your leg every 8 weeks, you'll be fine, but you won't be thriving 🙂

 

I think Dong gives  amaster class in dipping on this livestream.  He's an S-tier coral keeper if you're not familiar.