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Adventures in keeping a SPS reef


Llorgon

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1 hour ago, mcarroll said:

How does it look on Day 3?  If it looks dirty already, consider replacing it more often OR consider not using it at all.

 

Unless you have a very specific reason for doing this, don't.   (Nobody turns off the flow in the ocean so these guys can eat!) 😉 

 

Considering only the pellets, nori and frozen, do any of them take a long time to get eaten?   Would you consider any of them "more wasteful" than the others?  (This will depend as much on your critters and how they respond to your feedings as it does on you.)

 

How are levels after then end of that week/before you dose?

 

I thought you had already checked this, but I may be thinking of some other thread....easy to check this without a full cleaning being required.

 

Just swizzle your finger (or something) around in the sand area where you're curious about.  If you see anything other than perfectly white aragonite sand-powder get stirred up (ie anything brownish or blackish, etc) then that's a problem area.  Could be worth some vacuuming – but hitting the sand with a powerhead before your regular water change might be more efficient.  Pretend you are a hurricane.  🙂 

 

I don't think target feeding is usually an issue – but only YOU would know for sure in your case.  (I imagine you'd have said something about it by now tho if it was a potential problem.).  If it's messy, consider taking a break.  As mentioned above, it's easy to check the sand in their area.  👍

 

 

I pulled 1/2 of my floss so that 1/2 the total turnover never sees floss.  Return flow is more stable and my skimate much darker.  Pretty keen on this setup as it keeps the water less pristine and theres a bit of food in the water longer for any filter feeders.

 

My floss was a deep brown after 24h.  It’s still getting gross, but much more waste is being skimmed out.

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3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

How does it look on Day 3?  If it looks dirty already, consider replacing it more often OR consider not using it at all.

It depends. If I have been cleaning and removing algae a lot, I have had to change it twice already. If I leave the tank alone then it's gross, but water still passes through.

3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

 

Unless you have a very specific reason for doing this, don't.   (Nobody turns off the flow in the ocean so these guys can eat!) 😉 

Got it. I guess they were spoiled.

3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

 

Considering only the pellets, nori and frozen, do any of them take a long time to get eaten?   Would you consider any of them "more wasteful" than the others?  (This will depend as much on your critters and how they respond to your feedings as it does on you.)

I'd say pellets is more wasteful. I know they don't eat all of them. I usually put in a little pinch as I walk by the tank in the morning.

3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

 

How are levels after then end of that week/before you dose?

My usual routine is testing on Tuesday and do water changes on the weekend. It varies, but that dose for the most part keeps N around 5ppm and P around 0.07-0.1

3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

 

I thought you had already checked this, but I may be thinking of some other thread....easy to check this without a full cleaning being required.

 

Just swizzle your finger (or something) around in the sand area where you're curious about.  If you see anything other than perfectly white aragonite sand-powder get stirred up (ie anything brownish or blackish, etc) then that's a problem area.  Could be worth some vacuuming – but hitting the sand with a powerhead before your regular water change might be more efficient.  Pretend you are a hurricane.  🙂 

Cleaning the sand was part of my weekly maintenance... at least part of the sand bed each week. But then I tried not doing water changes for awhile, then went back to doing them just to suck up as much algae as possible. Now I do that and I have hit my 10-15g of water when I am done, so I haven't got to the sand in awhile. It probably needs a good cleaning, but I will poke around a little bit.

 

3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

 

I don't think target feeding is usually an issue – but only YOU would know for sure in your case.  (I imagine you'd have said something about it by now tho if it was a potential problem.).  If it's messy, consider taking a break.  As mentioned above, it's easy to check the sand in their area.  👍

 

 

I don't think the target feeding is a huge issue. Mostly all the reef roids stay on the corals. Acans are pretty fast eaters. By the time I finish the first ones I gave reef roids to have their feeding tentacles out again. Plus it's one of the few fun things I can do with the tank lately.

1 hour ago, mitten_reef said:

 

thanks to @PJPS for asking the important questions around feeding routine and food.    

 

Interesting to see that you're essentially fertilizing your tank.  as far as I know, most live phyto comes in green water, which is straight fertilizer water....then you're also adding both nitrate and phosphate supplements.  I think you'll continue to be stuck in the cycle of "raising nutrients" and algae removal if you don't stop fueling the algae with fertilizers.  have you thought about measuring the N & P levels a day or two after you did a deep clean (what would the N&P levels be without all the algae sucking them out of water)? i.e. if it rises from your current baseline, that means you're the one fueling the algae growth.   or just slow down your phyto and N&P supplement every time after a deep clean, and see how long it takes the algae to regrow each time you step down the doses?  

 

and yes, dino will be lurking right around the corner if this is not done gently and the nutrients plummeted.  But at this point, I'd rather deal with dino for 3-4 weeks vs perpetual algae      

Actually all my testing is done a couple days after cleaning water change. Adding the live phyto does nothing noticeable to nutrient levels. Or at least nothing I can measure. For awhile I was only adding phyto and N & P would still go to zero.

 

Lowering or just letting the N&P levels do as they please without dosing does lead to some less algae growth, but then the corals I do have start to look unhappy. It's actually at the point now where I can roughly tell if my nutrient levels are high or low based on the algae growth. I will say the places where I have done the scrapping with the dental tools are staying algae free.

 

I've done dinos before. It killed most of the corals and all the cuc. I don't want to do that again if I can help it.

 

1 hour ago, PJPS said:

To my knowledge the vast majority is water, then phytoplankton, then F2 fertilizer.  If you leave live phyto to settle, the water becomes clear with a thin layer of green at the bottom.  RN live phyto is potent stuff, 10ml is a lot.  I do 10ml of a weak culture, RN is $30/bottle, the stuff I use is $13/bottle.

 

So another relevant question is - what live phyto are you using?

I'm using Reef Nutrition phyto-feast live. I've thought about doing my own cultures to make it cheaper. Honestly I don't see a difference in the tank if I add it or not. I read it helps with the pod population which I do seem to have a lot of.

 

55 minutes ago, PJPS said:

I pulled 1/2 of my floss so that 1/2 the total turnover never sees floss.  Return flow is more stable and my skimate much darker.  Pretty keen on this setup as it keeps the water less pristine and theres a bit of food in the water longer for any filter feeders.

 

My floss was a deep brown after 24h.  It’s still getting gross, but much more waste is being skimmed out.

I have filter floss for the main return and then another goes into the refugium skipping the floss. Sometimes I go a few days without adding the floss back in. I have gone a week while waiting for more to arrive. Didn't notice much difference in the tank.

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Cut the phyto in half and kill the return for 30m, your pods should be fine.  If you notice them thinning out, go back to 10ml.

 

I’m find soaking my pellets before I add them to the tank, makes them much more palatable to fish.  I’ve been regularly putting in a tiny pinch every day into the gumbo.  The fish now hunt out the pellets as if they were their favourite thing in the reef frenzy.  So they’re soaked in everything else.  Given where the phosphates are in my tank currently (0.7 😵💫) the RR is out of rotation for a bit.  
 

As though they’ve been reading my posts on here, I never noticed the phosphates getting that high, because my herbivore population is so effective.  The tank is devoid of nuisance problems (dinos, diatoms, cyano, algae - I don’t have any of them.  My nutrients as of last night are NO3=34 PO4=0.7.  While far from ideal, and I want to pull them down to an acro friendly range of nitrate and phosphate, I’m not particularly worried about any of those things.

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16 hours ago, PJPS said:

Cut the phyto in half and kill the return for 30m, your pods should be fine.  If you notice them thinning out, go back to 10ml.

 

I’m find soaking my pellets before I add them to the tank, makes them much more palatable to fish.  I’ve been regularly putting in a tiny pinch every day into the gumbo.  The fish now hunt out the pellets as if they were their favourite thing in the reef frenzy.  So they’re soaked in everything else.  Given where the phosphates are in my tank currently (0.7 😵💫) the RR is out of rotation for a bit.

Interesting. I will have to try that. I usually just put a pinch into the powerhead so it gets blown around the tank and they eat it.

 

16 hours ago, PJPS said:

As though they’ve been reading my posts on here, I never noticed the phosphates getting that high, because my herbivore population is so effective.  The tank is devoid of nuisance problems (dinos, diatoms, cyano, algae - I don’t have any of them.  My nutrients as of last night are NO3=34 PO4=0.7.  While far from ideal, and I want to pull them down to an acro friendly range of nitrate and phosphate, I’m not particularly worried about any of those things.

I have been following your build. Those are some high numbers! At least you don't have the algae problems I have. I have noticed that my montipora and little bit of forest fire that are remaining look less happy when nutrients climb. It's a very fine balancing act that I am losing it seems.

 

I did my water testing last night. Alk is slowly on its way up and cal is slowly coming down.

Alk: 8.8
Cal: 435
Mag: 1350
N: 10
P04: 0.2

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13 minutes ago, Llorgon said:

Interesting. I will have to try that. I usually just put a pinch into the powerhead so it gets blown around the tank and they eat it.

 

I have been following your build. Those are some high numbers! At least you don't have the algae problems I have. I have noticed that my montipora and little bit of forest fire that are remaining look less happy when nutrients climb. It's a very fine balancing act that I am losing it seems.

 

I did my water testing last night. Alk is slowly on its way up and cal is slowly coming down.

Alk: 8.8
Cal: 435
Mag: 1350
N: 10
P04: 0.2

I agree, I'm currently tightrope walking without a net, stuffing my freshly crashed tank with SPS.  Basically  an expensive theory test I can't afford, so 🤞.  (my thrill seeking I guess).  My only comment on your params is to be carful on climbing alk.  All my SPS go to shit over 7.8, so 8.3 in a larger tank would be my hard limit until things pull back.

 

My montis don't mind 6.5, shit barely grows seemingly (growth is fine above 7) 9+ just seems unnecessary.  In big water volumes, sure, you're likely fine.  But an average full size tank <400-500L (100-125g), probably  safer < 9.  It's taken me years to unlearn >9=better.  Just my $0.02

 

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32 minutes ago, Llorgon said:

Interesting. I will have to try that. I usually just put a pinch into the powerhead so it gets blown around the tank and they eat it.

 

I have been following your build. Those are some high numbers! At least you don't have the algae problems I have. I have noticed that my montipora and little bit of forest fire that are remaining look less happy when nutrients climb. It's a very fine balancing act that I am losing it seems.

 

I did my water testing last night. Alk is slowly on its way up and cal is slowly coming down.

Alk: 8.8
Cal: 435
Mag: 1350
N: 10
P04: 0.2

As for the pellets, try it out :).  I used to put them in dry, and I'd say the fish MUCH prefer the softer pellet.

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2 hours ago, PJPS said:

I agree, I'm currently tightrope walking without a net, stuffing my freshly crashed tank with SPS.  Basically  an expensive theory test I can't afford, so 🤞.  (my thrill seeking I guess).  My only comment on your params is to be carful on climbing alk.  All my SPS go to shit over 7.8, so 8.3 in a larger tank would be my hard limit until things pull back.

 

My montis don't mind 6.5, shit barely grows seemingly (growth is fine above 7) 9+ just seems unnecessary.  In big water volumes, sure, you're likely fine.  But an average full size tank <400-500L (100-125g), probably  safer < 9.  It's taken me years to unlearn >9=better.  Just my $0.02

 

I'm following along to see how those corals do. I might do the same with soft/LPS corals for this tank and see how it goes.

 

I usually try and keep alk around 8. I will have to test my water change water to see why it is moving up. The salt is supposed to mix to 8.

2 hours ago, PJPS said:

 

As for the pellets, try it out :).  I used to put them in dry, and I'd say the fish MUCH prefer the softer pellet.

I tried it out this morning, the fish didn't seem to care. Maybe they need to be soaked more.

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15 minutes ago, Llorgon said:

I'm following along to see how those corals do. I might do the same with soft/LPS corals for this tank and see how it goes.

 

I usually try and keep alk around 8. I will have to test my water change water to see why it is moving up. The salt is supposed to mix to 8.

I tried it out this morning, the fish didn't seem to care. Maybe they need to be soaked more.

Mine soak for an hour (roughly, some days more, some less.  If they don't have a preference, or even prefer the dry (I haven't been regularly feeding dry), give'm what they prefer would be my guiding principal 🙂

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6 hours ago, PJPS said:

Mine soak for an hour (roughly, some days more, some less.  If they don't have a preference, or even prefer the dry (I haven't been regularly feeding dry), give'm what they prefer would be my guiding principal 🙂

Oh I soaked for a few minutes until they sank. I'll try soaking them longer tomorrow.

 

I had to clean off some gha from the chaeto in the sump tonight. The chaeto is still growing. I'm hoping that is slowing some of the gha growth in the display.

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I left the tank alone last week just to see how the algae growth was. Surprisingly not as bad as previous times I had been hands off. 

 

There is one snail that has stayed on the centre rock for weeks and is doing a great job of keeping it clean. I try moving other snails into other rocks, but they never stay.

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Last night I did some algae removal. I was still able to remove over a cup of it, but it's becoming less each time. I'm going to go back to my nightly removal routine this week. What else do I have to do at night, right?

 

Algae is still a pain on a bunch of the corals, especially the acans. I moved my gold hammer into the tank when I tore down the 25g it's looking alright so far, but the one other euphyllia that has hung on all this time has lost a head and isn't looking great at all. The pulsing xenia is now two so it seems happy.

 

Water testing again last night, results are:

Alk: 8.6
Cal: 430
Mag: 1350
N: 6.5
P04: 0.15

 

I'm going to send out a few emails next week and see if I can get a bulk coral order. I'm going to focus on soft corals for now. They will grow quick and hopefully help a bit with algae.

 

I will probably also have to adjust flow and light intensity though.

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45 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

Your tank needs to borrow a Rabbitfish for a few weeks.

Would it actually make a difference or be more like the tangs that barely pick at anything and wait to be fed.

 

I could probably find a small one spot.

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16 minutes ago, Llorgon said:

Would it actually make a difference or be more like the tangs that barely pick at anything and wait to be fed.

 

I could probably find a small one spot.

I don’t understand where all the fuel is for that algae.  I’d have a gone pretty hard in that sand bed by now, if only out of frustration.  Something is causing THAT much growth if you’re regularly manually removing it as well as introducing new herbivores regularly.  I can’t really think of anything else at this point.

 

At minimum I’d storm the tank a few times over 10 days with a powerhead.  If you’re adding herbivores and removing algae manually, your tank is literally defying the science.  I’d put urchins in there and call it a day, but apparently your tank can’t support them (I really question JL, your tank would need to be freshwater to be killing turbo snails and urchins aren’t much harder)

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3 hours ago, PJPS said:

I don’t understand where all the fuel is for that algae.  I’d have a gone pretty hard in that sand bed by now, if only out of frustration.  Something is causing THAT much growth if you’re regularly manually removing it as well as introducing new herbivores regularly.  I can’t really think of anything else at this point.

I did a small part of the sand bed tonight. It was pretty dirty... I definitely ignored it and just focused on removing the algae for too long. I will slowly make my way through the sand bed this week.

3 hours ago, PJPS said:

 

At minimum I’d storm the tank a few times over 10 days with a powerhead.  If you’re adding herbivores and removing algae manually, your tank is literally defying the science.  I’d put urchins in there and call it a day, but apparently your tank can’t support them (I really question JL, your tank would need to be freshwater to be killing turbo snails and urchins aren’t much harder)

Turbo snails I have never had luck with in any tank, not an issue isolated to this tank. I got them from J&L, fragbox and the LFS. All lasted less than a month. The urchin I got was dropping spines in the bag it was shipped in so it might not have been healthy to begin with, who knows.

 

I tried to take a picture of the crap that came up when I turkey basted the sand, it doesn't quite show the amount. I'll have to move the acan around as I do more of it.

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3 hours ago, PJPS said:

I don’t understand where all the fuel is for that algae.  I’d have a gone pretty hard in that sand bed by now, if only out of frustration.

To the extent that nutrient levels per se even matter, inputs from food alone are usually sufficient to drive an algae bloom.  

 

Detritus, by comparison, is generally nitrogen poor thanks to the quick work of bacteria....usually phosphate poor as well.  So IMO detritus might be pretty good at driving a cyano bloom, but probably not a green algae bloom.  

 

Not arguing to leave cr*p in the sand bed though! 😉 

 

51 minutes ago, Llorgon said:

I did a small part of the sand bed tonight. It was pretty dirty... I definitely ignored it and just focused on removing the algae for too long. I will slowly make my way through the sand bed this week.

You can't discover everything at once....and it's possible to second guess everything.  🤷‍♂️

 

These cleanup phases NEVER happen "fast enough".  

 

Considering that reality, IMO you've been making progress and figuring things out at a fine pace.  

 

Hind-sight is always 20/20, so you can't really spend a lot of worry in that direction.  "Shoulda.  Woulda.  Coulda."  They like to show up and be critics, but aren't the ones doing the work so keep em in their place. 😉   

 

Now, overfeeding.  

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but *I think* we already confirmed that overfeeding isn't happening.  

 

Assuming there's NO overfeeding (aka food making its way to the sand bed or rocks), then to me this situation implies a flow problem. 

 

Ideally you shouldn't have issues like this with a sand bed for at least a few years IF EVER.  When I took down my 10 year old system to upgrade, the sand was still just like it was when I put it in.  *Some* crud buildup is more normal than none...but it should only happen SLOWLY if it happens.

 

If you find that the sand bed is generally "pretty dirty" (ie not just localized in one or a few spots) as you have described so far, then that means too many food/poop particles are settling into the sand – and not making into the mouth of a coral, or something else more productive than getting stuck in the sand.

 

If any food is making its way to the sand bed uneaten (which is a form of overfeeding) then it's best to have SOMETHING there to eat it and use at least some of the nutrients before it become algae food.  A few Nassarius snails might not be a bad idea to add.

 

You REALLY want to be sure that you aren't accidentally feeding your rocks and sand though.  It could be that more flow (or better flow) is needed to assure that.  

 

It takes flow velocity to keep particles suspended.  And most folks these days do keep VERY SOFT, low-velocity flow in their tanks.  With that starting point, it can be too easy to be (or get) on the wrong side of "too little" flow.   Making the issue complicated is that we only go by GPH (flow volume) when we set up our flow, which does not describe velocity.  You can have lots of GPH but still weak flow that can't keep particles adrift.

 

Looking back on this thread's history, it looks like things started out with several questions about flow quality.  

 

Certainly if you haven't upped the pumps you had to 100% power, now is the time.  

 

Also, limit the amount of time they spend below 100%.  They aren't doing much/any work under 100%.  Always on 100% would probably be ideal.

 

If you want to change pumps or add a pump, let us know if you need ideas.  Tunze does make pumps that deliver higher-velocity flow, FYI.  (Watch that vid!)

 

5 hours ago, Llorgon said:

I tried to take a picture of the crap that came up when I turkey basted the sand, it doesn't quite show the amount. I'll have to move the acan around as I do more of it.

Looks like the nasty brown haze I mentioned here...

 

 

In retrospect now, the fact that you have been turning off your powerheads during feeding stands out – basically turns EVERY feeding into an overfeeding event just due to how fast things drop to the bottom.

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9 hours ago, mcarroll said:

 

To the extent that nutrient levels per se even matter, inputs from food alone are usually sufficient to drive an algae bloom.  

 

Detritus, by comparison, is generally nitrogen poor thanks to the quick work of bacteria....usually phosphate poor as well.  So IMO detritus might be pretty good at driving a cyano bloom, but probably not a green algae bloom.  

 

Not arguing to leave cr*p in the sand bed though! 😉 

 

You can't discover everything at once....and it's possible to second guess everything.  🤷‍♂️

 

These cleanup phases NEVER happen "fast enough".  

 

Considering that reality, IMO you've been making progress and figuring things out at a fine pace.  

 

Hind-sight is always 20/20, so you can't really spend a lot of worry in that direction.  "Shoulda.  Woulda.  Coulda."  They like to show up and be critics, but aren't the ones doing the work so keep em in their place. 😉   

 

Now, overfeeding.  

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but *I think* we already confirmed that overfeeding isn't happening.  

Food is:
a small pinch of pellets in the morning
10ml live phyto/day
60-40 split of a cube of frozen at night between this tank and the smaller one
Reef roids target fed 1-2 times a week.

9 hours ago, mcarroll said:

 

Assuming there's NO overfeeding (aka food making its way to the sand bed or rocks), then to me this situation implies a flow problem. 

 

Ideally you shouldn't have issues like this with a sand bed for at least a few years IF EVER.  When I took down my 10 year old system to upgrade, the sand was still just like it was when I put it in.  *Some* crud buildup is more normal than none...but it should only happen SLOWLY if it happens.

 

If you find that the sand bed is generally "pretty dirty" (ie not just localized in one or a few spots) as you have described so far, then that means too many food/poop particles are settling into the sand – and not making into the mouth of a coral, or something else more productive than getting stuck in the sand.

 

If any food is making its way to the sand bed uneaten (which is a form of overfeeding) then it's best to have SOMETHING there to eat it and use at least some of the nutrients before it become algae food.  A few Nassarius snails might not be a bad idea to add.

 

You REALLY want to be sure that you aren't accidentally feeding your rocks and sand though.  It could be that more flow (or better flow) is needed to assure that.  

I have 4 Nassarius and the fighting conch on the sand. The cerith also seem to keep it somewhat stirred up. It's not clumpy, just kinda dirty. I watched the pellets as I fed them today and some, but not all do end up on the sand, so it could be flow.

9 hours ago, mcarroll said:

 

It takes flow velocity to keep particles suspended.  And most folks these days do keep VERY SOFT, low-velocity flow in their tanks.  With that starting point, it can be too easy to be (or get) on the wrong side of "too little" flow.   Making the issue complicated is that we only go by GPH (flow volume) when we set up our flow, which does not describe velocity.  You can have lots of GPH but still weak flow that can't keep particles adrift.

 

Looking back on this thread's history, it looks like things started out with several questions about flow quality.  

 

Certainly if you haven't upped the pumps you had to 100% power, now is the time.  

 

Also, limit the amount of time they spend below 100%.  They aren't doing much/any work under 100%.  Always on 100% would probably be ideal.

 

If you want to change pumps or add a pump, let us know if you need ideas.  Tunze does make pumps that deliver higher-velocity flow, FYI.  (Watch that vid!)

 

Looks like the nasty brown haze I mentioned here...

 

 

In retrospect now, the fact that you have been turning off your powerheads during feeding stands out – basically turns EVERY feeding into an overfeeding event just due to how fast things drop to the bottom.

I'll check out that vid. I have a wave engine, so the octo pulses are programmed with that. They switch throughout the day from LPS reef mode to sine wave. Overall pumps are set to 100% and the programs max them out around 70%. At night the pumps switch to ocean swell mode and things calm down a bit.

 

I do have a icecap 2k gyre I can add to the tank. I'm not entirely sure of the best place to put it though. I could do octopulse on one side and gyre on the other.

 

I also stopped turning off pumps when feeding.

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1 hour ago, Llorgon said:

I do have a icecap 2k gyre I can add to the tank. I'm not entirely sure of the best place to put it though. I could do octopulse on one side and gyre on the other.

I would be ready to experiment a little before you decide on final placement.  

 

What you said sounds like a good try.

 

In the back-center would be an option too.

 

You might think of some other options while you're experimenting.

 

When I upgraded my flow the first time, I was REALLY surprised how LITTLE difference the new pumps made and I ended up with a different plan once I experimented for a few days.  (newer ≠ better)

 

Also, pumps often perform better when they are NOT facing each other and NOT on at the same time....a couple more parameters you can experiment with.

 

One rule of thumb I like to use is that flow should occasionally be able to tumble some really small sand grains across the sand bed. some tanks you may not want flow that strong, but that's a reasonable target if your goal is to have food particles stay in the water vs falling into the rocks/sand.   Corals will generally always appreciate the added flow too, and not just for the additional food it brings.

 

👍

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21 hours ago, mcarroll said:

I would be ready to experiment a little before you decide on final placement.  

 

What you said sounds like a good try.

 

In the back-center would be an option too.

 

You might think of some other options while you're experimenting.

 

When I upgraded my flow the first time, I was REALLY surprised how LITTLE difference the new pumps made and I ended up with a different plan once I experimented for a few days.  (newer ≠ better)

 

Also, pumps often perform better when they are NOT facing each other and NOT on at the same time....a couple more parameters you can experiment with.

 

One rule of thumb I like to use is that flow should occasionally be able to tumble some really small sand grains across the sand bed. some tanks you may not want flow that strong, but that's a reasonable target if your goal is to have food particles stay in the water vs falling into the rocks/sand.   Corals will generally always appreciate the added flow too, and not just for the additional food it brings.

 

👍

I'll set it up and play around with things this weekend and see how it goes.

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Well the weekend got away from me and I didn't get time to play around with the gyre. Hopefully I can find some time this week or next weekend.

 

I did my weekend water change last night. Gha seems to be getting better on the rocks, but it's still a real pain around the corals.

 

I have been putting the pumps at 100% and turkey basting the sand every night. There is still some dirtyness to the sand, but it's getting better.

 

I have been searching for a one spot foxface, no luck so far. I did see a decent price for a cabbage leather coral so I ordered that and it should hopefully come this week... If it's actually still in stock.

 

On the weekend, there was a quite large asterina starfish on the glass. At least I think that's what it was. It was about the size of a quarter. Do they get that big?

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That's a pretty good-sized individual, but yeah they can get that big.   At least from my experience, it's much more typical for them to be dime-sized smaller.  Interestingly it's not too uncommon for them to have >5 legs.....guessing it means they're about to split/bud but not sure.

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Things are definitely looking better.  The fact that the algae seems to grow from right around the corals still leads me to think a lot of food is ending up around the coral itself.  And there’s probably quite a bit built up in there.
 

all in all though it’s looking quite nice.  The biology is healthy, If ugly. It really just needs corals at this point.  I think your best bet is to cover as much of that rock with various corals, and give the sand a good vacuum where those corals are with all the algae.  Manually remove the algae from those plugs while you’re at it, or just cut them off completely. That’s what we do.

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On 3/29/2023 at 11:36 AM, mcarroll said:

That's a pretty good-sized individual, but yeah they can get that big.   At least from my experience, it's much more typical for them to be dime-sized smaller.  Interestingly it's not too uncommon for them to have >5 legs.....guessing it means they're about to split/bud but not sure.

I've never seen one this big. I've only ever seen the really tiny ones. It's kinda cool though.

23 hours ago, PJPS said:

Things are definitely looking better.  The fact that the algae seems to grow from right around the corals still leads me to think a lot of food is ending up around the coral itself.  And there’s probably quite a bit built up in there.
 

all in all though it’s looking quite nice.  The biology is healthy, If ugly. It really just needs corals at this point.  I think your best bet is to cover as much of that rock with various corals, and give the sand a good vacuum where those corals are with all the algae.  Manually remove the algae from those plugs while you’re at it, or just cut them off completely. That’s what we do.

I picked up a cabbage coral and it arrived today and is in the tank. So there's a bit more coral mass, but not much.

 

Actually last night as I was pulling some algae, some got away from me and I watched it float around and it landed in one of the acans... So I have a feeling any algae that is knocked lose, end up getting caught on the acans and then starts growing. Hopefully adding the gyre this weekend can help with that.

 

I also noticed some of the pulsing xenia has broken away and found itself under one of the rocks. It's a small piece so I will leave it there and see what happens.

 

The gsp I added to the back glass is starting to grow, but has lost all it's green colour...

 

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2 hours ago, Llorgon said:

The gsp I added to the back glass is starting to grow, but has lost all it's green colour...

That far up on the glass it might be getting a peculiar quality of light.....like low-PAR/high-red or something.

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