Heinz 57

[Jaren45]

Glad you found a lighting solution you like! Not everyone has the same tastes. Personally the shimmer distracts me and that's why I moved to a more diffused light

[RaymondNoodles]

Day 26 of the cycle and nitrites are nearing 0. Ammonia has been 0 since day 7. Nitrites we’re 2-5ppm from day 7 - 20. After a lot of reading and research, I came to the decision to do a large-ish water change 20 gallons / 35%) on day 21 of the cycle. I was curious to see if lowering the nitrites would "nudge them in the right direction." Since a large water change was in order at the end of the cycle anyways, I figured I'd try it. I'm convinced the tank has been cycled and able to process small amounts of ammonia and ready for a fish for the last week or two. I understand nitrites aren't all that important but decided to do this for our knowledge and research. I wanted to document the progress and take it slow. The lid should be here in a couple days and I'm not in a hurry to add fish anyways.

 

nitrate 10ppm

phosphate .03ppm

specific gravity 1.025

temp 77 F

 

Threw in some pods and phyto last night.

Stocking plan

Cleaner shrimp

3 Cardinals (haven’t decided between bangai or pajama)

2 Ocellaris clownfish

Pink streaked wrasse

Maybe one more wrasse

Firefish

Yellow watchman goby

Pistol shrimp

Tailspot blenny

Diamond goby after tank and sand bed are well established

[RaymondNoodles]

The lid arrived today. Very happy with how it turned out. Added our first two fish - Darwin misbar clowns I got from the LFS. They’re about 1-1.5”. One is slightly larger. Temp and drip aclimated and they both ate frozen Rods reef food almost immediately. So far so good! They seem to be getting along well thus far. They look so tiny in the tank lol. The little guy found a hiding spot in the back where he hung out for a couple hours but eventually came out and they’ve been both hanging out together in the front corner since. 

 

 

[RaymondNoodles]

[RaymondNoodles]

The new kids on the block are a tailspot blenny and flame hawkfish…two of my dream fish. The blenny has quite the personality and loves backing his tail into hiding spots with his head poking out. While watching the tank for 5 mins this evening I saw him poop a couple times, then I noticed about 20 more of his turds on the sand bed near his favorite caves. He’s been picking at the new algae like crazy. Can’t believe how much he’s pooped. What a haus. The hawkfish has been a bit skittish and darts under the rocks whenever we come near. He’s always watching us. It’s really funny how he does these little bounce swivels on the sand to make sure he sees everything around him. He’s been sharing a cave with the fire shrimp. The cleaner shrimp is very outgoing and seems happy. Also added a couple new coral frags. Life on the reef is good!

[Looselyhuman]

Just catching up. Those clowns are so tiny! Cute as hell. They grow up too fast...

[RaymondNoodles]

@Looselyhuman Thank you, and yes they are super cute! My other clown is 3-4 inches and after seeing him every day the new clowns look even tinier. They paired up immediately and there has been no aggression between them or the other two fish. WOO HOO! 🙂 

[RaymondNoodles]

Phosphates dipped to .00 and algae is taking off so I added a CUC of snails…3 massive top crowns, 10 turbos and 4 astereas. They are going to town on the algae. Began dosing Brightwell NeoPhos to keep phosphate from staying bottomed out. Nitrate is still at 10ppm. Got phosphate up to .04ppm after first dose. 

[RaymondNoodles]

Phosphate and nitrate have been more stable. NO3 5-10ppm, PO4 .06. The NeoPhos worked perfectly and increased phosphate exactly as instructions stated. I'm learning more about algae growth in relation to nutrient levels.

 

After doing a lot of research on wrasses, I decided on 2 flasher wrasses. I picked up a carpenters wrasse and a royal wrasse from the LFS. Both are about 2" long. The royal has been super active and friendly. He hangs out with the tailspot blenny and they are becoming buds it seems. The carpenters wrasse on the other hand has been very shy. For the first couple days I wasn't sure if he was healthy because he was so skittish. He does come out at feeding time though and it seems like he is slowly getting more comfortable, but he still hides in corners, under rocks and isn't very active. All of the hiding spots and little caves in the rockwork it make it really interesting, and at times stressful looking for the critters. I am glad they have places to hide and be comfortable if necessary. My wife is getting into it more and really likes the tailspot blenny and clowns. I mean, who wouldn't?! The tailspot is so regal and brave. He's small but mighty 😂 Always out front and center. Seems like he isn't phased by anything. He goes everywhere in the tank. "These are my 17 favorite perching spots and I will visit each one regularly."

 

Here's a video. Afterwards I was thinking maybe I should add commentary. On the other hand it's probably more relaxing to just watch the tank but after watching it back it was kinda awkward silence lol. First 4k 60fps video on the iPhone 14 🙂 

 

 

[RaymondNoodles]

Overdue for an update here. Been battling cyano. The 6 fish and inverts are doing well. The corals are hanging in there. The fish all seem to get along very well. Going to be dosing chemi clean within the next couple days. I’ve been scrubbing and blowing off the rocks daily. Keeping phosphate at .05 and nitrates 10. 

[ml86743]

This build is so awesome.  I can’t wait to see how this turns out.  
 

Starting a new tank soon and have completely fallen in love with tailspots.  My local LFS has one and when everything’s ready to go he’ll be the first addition.

 

Following along!

[RaymondNoodles]

Thanks @ml86743! Tailspots are awesome fish. Great personality. So glad I got one. Appreciate the compliment. Good luck with your new build. 

[mcarroll]

On 9/23/2022 at 9:27 AM, RaymondNoodles said:

Not a good idea to add fish before the tank is ready....ideally they go in last.   (But then you started via the ammonia spike method....pretty much only recommendable for a fish only tank.)

 

 

On 9/30/2022 at 1:11 AM, RaymondNoodles said:

The new kids on the block are a tailspot blenny and flame hawkfish

Ack!  More fish?

On 10/3/2022 at 7:54 PM, RaymondNoodles said:

Phosphates dipped to .00 and algae is taking off so I added a CUC of snails

Much better to add the CUC first, and add it slowly.  Corals can come soon after.

 

On 10/9/2022 at 9:43 PM, RaymondNoodles said:

I picked up a carpenters wrasse and a royal wrasse

Ack!!  Even more fish already???   No expectations for the tank to keep up now...

 

2 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

Been battling cyano. The 6 fish and inverts are doing well.

And The Uglies are the result of stocking so fast and in the wrong order.   You took nutrient levels from zero to a hundred in like a week, man!!   Ideally fish don't got in at a rate of more than 1-2 a month.  

 

As our old hobby motto goes:  Nothing Good Happens Fast In A Reef Tank 

 

Glad the fish are doing well in spite of this tho!!

 

This is how the internet works...bad info seems to be the most popular.  There seems to be no element of "cream rising to the top" with the information out there.  You get whatever info Google and Company churn your way...which in our hobby at least seems invariably bad.  😵‍💫👍 

 

Unless you want to lower your bio-load by getting rid of some fish, or you can replace some of your still-dead/barely-alive rock with some high-quality ACTUAL live rock, there's nothing much you can do at this point (aside from what you're already doing.). You just have to slog your way through the Uglies until things clear up.

 

FYI, those Crown Tops will die off with the minuscule amount of algae you have growing – they are gigantic snails, bigger than most Turbos, and have an appetite to match.   When you are able to I would trade them (all or all but one) for smaller snails like Turbo, Trochus, Astrea and Cirith.   While you still have the Crowns, watch them for getting weak or falling from he rocks....might be your first sign they are starving to death.  (Unless you have some green algae that isn't in the pics, they are all gonna be at risk.....they don't like cyano very much/at all.)

[mcarroll]

On 9/11/2022 at 10:09 AM, RaymondNoodles said:

I forgot to mention that I noticed you switched lights for aesthitic concerns, but you still have them mounted really high "in view" for some reason.

 

You can remove that little dangly part between the mount and the light....connect the mount to the light directly.   Then drop the light down to about 4-5 inches above the water.

 

MUCH BETTER AESTHETICS that way.....lights much more hidden from view, and MUCH LESS light spill outside the tank.  (Ideally you want zero light spill.)

 

You probably know, but your tank is WAY over-lit in terms of potential power – 180 watts total.   >3 watts per gallon.

 

I run three of these lights over my 125 Gallon –  >2 watts per gallon.  So one of these A360X's is probably enough for your tank, except there would be some pretty dramatic shading unless you rock scape around a central light.  (Your scape is prolly not too bad as-is for that type of lighting setup.)

 

If you haven't checked your lux or PAR levels (or at last the amount of power from the wall in watts) to know how much power you're blasting the tank with, I would check ASAP.   Over-lighting the tank at this stage is going to exacerbate your Uglies.  ANY LIGHT METER (or even power meter/killAwatt) will give us the info we need to determine this.

 

[RaymondNoodles]

@mcarroll ouch. That hurt but more importantly is very concerning especially coming from a veteran like yourself. I want to clear up a couple things. After the cycle completed, I transferred about 20 marine pure bio spheres from an established system that’s been up for 1.5 years which was started with live rock from another system that was up for a few years. I failed to mention this previously but it should have significantly helped increase bio diversity and beneficial bacteria. Did I still add fish too quickly? Green and brown algae are growing rapidly. I’ll add an updated picture soon. Some of the pics recently posted are old/out of order and I probably confused/concerned you and others by doing this. My bad for not keeping up with the journal and leaving out information. Currently the rocks are pretty much covered in hair algae (and unfortunately cyano). I’ve added pods twice and phyto pretty regularly. The lights are running at 35% max and pulling around 35-40 watts max each if I recall correctly from the last time I checked my Hydros XP8. I realize 2 of these lights is overkill and plan to keep them WELL below 100%. One Kessil A360x wouldn’t have been enough since the tank is 36” wide and they’re rated for a 24” spread max. The dangly part doesn’t bother me aesthetically and allows the lights to pivot slightly. Probably not necessary but I have them mounted a little closer to the front of the tank from middle and facing slightly backwards and inwards to match the rock scape and minimize shading and light spill. The lights are currently 8” from the water surface. I haven’t checked par but plan to rent or borrow one soon. I did quite a bit of research on these lights and their output and feel as though I have a pretty good feel for what they’re putting out, but yes, a par meter is always a good idea. I’m guessing it’s probably around 50-75 par at the sand bed and 100-150 midway up the rock structure which is the highest any of the corals are. I think we can all agree the Internet can be a bad place to get information, especially for this hobby. When I started reefing 1.5 yrs ago I was confused by all the conflicting information on forums. Everyone has different stories and the methods vary greatly. So I took to reading a couple old school books by Julian Sprung - “The Reef Aquarium”, “Reef Notes” and “Algae - A problem solvers guide.” A lot of my methods and information have also come from BRS. Last year I purchased a cheap kids microscope which didn’t really suffice so I recently upgraded to an Amscope M150 which is way better. Probably the best $75 I’ve spent in the hobby thus far. Really trying hard to do this the right way. As always, I appreciate the feedback. 

[mcarroll]

 

4 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

After the cycle completed, I transferred about 20 marine pure bio spheres from an established system that’s been up for 1.5 years which was started with live rock from another system that was up for a few years. I failed to mention this previously but it should have significantly helped increase bio diversity and beneficial bacteria. Did I still add fish too quickly?

The proof is in the pudding....things have turned out the way they have for reasons.  Not at random. 👍

 

Unfortunately, you're comparing those bio-media to live rock....and it's an unfair comparison.

 

Mono-crop vs jungle, if you can take my analogy.  A corn field disappears after 1 season if there's no human intervention.  A jungle is self-sustaining.  Blights wipe out farm fields.  There's no parallel in a jungle.  (Unless you count humans.)

 

You're shooting for the jungle outcome – stability....which live rock brings to the equation.

 

A bio-filter and bio-media are hold-overs ideas from fish tanks.  Functional, but not reefy. 😉 

 

 

4 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

Green and brown algae are growing rapidly. I’ll add an updated picture soon. Some of the pics recently posted are old/out of order and I probably confused/concerned you and others by doing this. My bad for not keeping up with the journal and leaving out information. Currently the rocks are pretty much covered in hair algae (and unfortunately cyano). I’ve added pods twice and phyto pretty regularly.

Pods are useful if you have things that will eat them, and they can help keep nutrients up as they break down in the tank.  

 

But I don't know what they really do for diversity....still a mono-crop that is unlikely to live past the dose into the tank.

 

I would have very moderate expectations for them aside from as a food/nutrient source.

 

4 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

The lights are running at 35% max and pulling around 35-40 watts max each if I recall correctly from the last time I checked my Hydros XP8. I realize 2 of these lights is overkill and plan to keep them WELL below 100%.

Good idea.   Will be good to get some updated lux numbers (or PAR if you have a PAR meter...not needed tho) for assurance.  Seems like you're about in the right power range, if maybe still a little high, for what that's worth.  👍   Post some numbers when you can.  

 

4 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

One Kessil A360x wouldn’t have been enough since the tank is 36” wide and they’re rated for a 24” spread max.

For such a low tank, it could have worked.

 

Mounted as high as you have them now, they probably cover 36".

 

The math for 140º lens LED's at 8" from the water technically gives you a spread of 44".

 

Take that down to 4" as I (and Kessil) recommend and it gives you a much more reasonable 22" of coverage.  Considering you have two that can overlap, that seems like a nice number for your current setup. 👍  

 

4 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

The dangly part doesn’t bother me aesthetically and allows the lights to pivot slightly. Probably not necessary but I have them mounted a little closer to the front of the tank from middle and facing slightly backwards and inwards to match the rock scape and minimize shading and light spill. The lights are currently 8” from the water surface.

The dangly thing and the angling of the lights are only needed because you have them mounted so high.   Aesthetic reason are why I'm suggesting the change.....onyl if that's still important to you though.  (Based on you changing lights for that reason before, the changes seemed like a decent suggestion.)

 

4 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

I haven’t checked par but plan to rent or borrow one soon. I did quite a bit of research on these lights and their output and feel as though I have a pretty good feel for what they’re putting out, but yes, a par meter is always a good idea. I’m guessing it’s probably around 50-75 par at the sand bed and 100-150 midway up the rock structure which is the highest any of the corals are.

All we really need for the overall calibration of your lights to the tank is some samples from the water line, above the water.  (Measuring below can be interesting for placing corals, but not really needed in most cases since corals are generally VERY adaptable.  Of course, know your corals...not saying they're all identical in their adaptations.)

 

4 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

I think we can all agree the Internet can be a bad place to get information, especially for this hobby. When I started reefing 1.5 yrs ago I was confused by all the conflicting information on forums. Everyone has different stories and the methods vary greatly. So I took to reading a couple old school books by Julian Sprung - “The Reef Aquarium”, “Reef Notes” and “Algae - A problem solvers guide.”

Any book is better than online.  Multiple books by multiple authors can bring even more clarity as to what is important.   (Right/wrong isn't usually the problem....wrong is clearly wrong most of the time, even as a newb.  But "right" is full of grey areas.)

 

4 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

A lot of my methods and information have also come from BRS.

They don't very choosey about the information they promote.

 

4 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

Last year I purchased a cheap kids microscope which didn’t really suffice so I recently upgraded to an Amscope M150 which is way better. Probably the best $75 I’ve spent in the hobby thus far. Really trying hard to do this the right way. As always, I appreciate the feedback. 

Excelllent!   I did about the same for my scope.....started with the red and white toy model that's popular on eBay, etc....and it does work, but it's very wobbly.....not nice to use.  I found a used 400x scope from a school that upgraded....added an LED light and 3D stage to it.....I think I have about $80 in it so far and it works great.  I don't miss the higher res since they restrict the light coming through a lot more anyway, limiting their usefulness.

[mcarroll]

Here's an image I made a while back to help illustrate coverage on these lights.....this was for a 48"x24" tank...probably a 120 Gallon.

 

You can see there's no overlap at the water surface (top image) but there's TONS of overlap in the tank.

 

You can also see (use your imagination) how a single light could cover a HUGE amount of space in the tank.

 

Due to all those internal reflections, you don't really need to light 100% of the water surface to light 100% of the tank.

 

Wish I still had the software I used to make these diagrams....hope this sheds some light on the topic anyway. 😉😉😉 

[mcarroll]

Found some other diagrams I made that might fit your tank better.

 

First you can see the difference between the first and second image that having the lights higher or lower makes INSIDE the tank.  (This shows a difference in mounting height and lens power, FYI.) 

 

Internal reflections are MUCH more significant with wider lenses, which you corals appreciate since they take in light from 360º, not just from above.

 

 

Below in the third pic, you can see the difference that adding a second light makes....this shows 90º lenses close to the water (not sure why I left out the representation of the lights above the water.  LOL)

 

Wider lenses (eg Kessil) would obviously improve this setup as much or more than it improved the single-light model above.

 

Hope this makes sense!  Fire back with any questions.

[DCUEVAS74]

Looks great man.  Love the kessils.  I've always loved the shimmer fo sho!  Setup looks great.  Man, I've setup about 10 different reefs over the years and the uglies are a part of the process.  Especially when we start with dry rock.  It is all worth it when the tank finally settles in and stabilizes.  The scape look awesome.  Great job.  It will take a while for it to settle in and populate with beneficials.  Keep an eye on the phosphates.  I've had some upswings out of nowhere due to leaching as the rocks matured.   I'm about to start with my fiji 48 lagoon with similar dims.  I'm debating between a pair of A360s or the AP9x.  I look forward to following your build as it matures.  

[RaymondNoodles]

@mcarroll Good call on lowering the lights since they have such a wide angle lens. Currently have them 5” from the water surface. Any lower and it becomes difficult to remove the lid. Lowered light peak intensity from 35% to 30%. Each light is pulling 28 watts at 30%. Reduced whites. Running mostly blues and a tad of white. No green or red. Fish and snails are all doing well. Most of the corals are thriving. A couple are getting slightly bothered by the hair algae. Moved a torch from my 20g into the 57g after I lost 1 of the 2 heads. I let the nitrates in the 20g creep up around 40-50ppm which I believe started to have negative effects on a couple corals. Lost my chalice and cyphastrea. Still not 100% sure why. The other stony corals in the 20g are doing fine. The other torch and blasto’s are actually doing better than ever in the 20g so that’s still a bit of a mystery. In the 57g I’m still dosing phosphate on a dosing pump/timer to keep it at .04-.06. Seems like the cyano was consuming a lot of phosphate. After clearing up the cyano with the chemi clean I’ve been able to reduce the phosphate dosage from 7ml to 3ml per day. Nitrate has been steady around 5-8. I am seeing some large cell amphidium dinos under the microscope. Just don’t want to let nutrients bottom out and allow the dinos to take over.

 

Last week I dosed Chemi clean to rid the cyano and it did a good job. I’m sure I’ll get ridiculed for this but wasn’t making any progress with manual removal for a couple weeks and it was getting pretty bad. Added an air stone to the display and let the skimmer overflow into the sump to keep the water oxygenated. The ph dropped to 7.85. On a normal night it dips around 7.9 - 7.95. Did a 25% water change after 48 hours and let the skimmer pull out most of that water. Skimmer is still running a little crazy so I raised it up a couple more inches with my nice custom skimmer stand I bought on Etsy and it’s been running pretty consistently for the last few days. Quite a bit of green and brown hair algae growing.  Did a couple little projects - installed a float valve in the ATO reservoir (so I no longer have to keep an eye on it when filling it up) and hung the Kessil power bricks up out of the way with spacers for air, a velcro strap and hook. 
 

@DCUEVAS74 thanks for the kind words. I knew starting with dry rock was going to be a challenge and adventure. My first time doing so. My other tank was started with live rock with all sorts of pests. Velvet or Brook (not sure which but I believe it came in on the live rock) killed 2 clowns. Had a flatworm outbreak. So I wanted to try something different with this build to limit pests and design the scape I wanted (at the disadvantage of limited bio diversity). Perhaps with your Fiji cube 48’s 30” wide footprint you could probably get away with 1 Kessil A360x unless you plan on packing it full of SPS. I’m actually selling one slightly used (2 months) in perfect condition if you’re interested.

 

Made a feeding video this morning

 

 

[mcarroll]

11 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

@mcarroll Good call on lowering the lights since they have such a wide angle lens. Currently have them 5” from the water surface. Any lower and it becomes difficult to remove the lid. Lowered light peak intensity from 35% to 30%. Each light is pulling 28 watts at 30%. Reduced whites. Running mostly blues and a tad of white. No green or red. Fish and snails are all doing well. Most of the corals are thriving. A couple are getting slightly bothered by the hair algae. Moved a torch from my 20g into the 57g after I lost 1 of the 2 heads. I let the nitrates in the 20g creep up around 40-50ppm which I believe started to have negative effects on a couple corals. Lost my chalice and cyphastrea. Still not 100% sure why. The other stony corals in the 20g are doing fine. The other torch and blasto’s are actually doing better than ever in the 20g so that’s still a bit of a mystery. In the 57g I’m still dosing phosphate on a dosing pump/timer to keep it at .04-.06. Seems like the cyano was consuming a lot of phosphate. After clearing up the cyano with the chemi clean I’ve been able to reduce the phosphate dosage from 7ml to 3ml per day. Nitrate has been steady around 5-8. I am seeing some large cell amphidium dinos under the microscope. Just don’t want to let nutrients bottom out and allow the dinos to take over.

I'm not sure that I've kept the details of the 20 and 57 straight....but if nitrates go up and cause problems like that, the problems is usually from the resulting drop in PO4.  Would this make sense with the rest of the info you know on the 20?

 

11 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

Last week I dosed Chemi clean to rid the cyano and it did a good job. I’m sure I’ll get ridiculed for this but wasn’t making any progress with manual removal for a couple weeks and it was getting pretty bad.

No need for ridicule – most of us have reached for this treatment at one point or another. 😉 

 

The only thing with that treatment is that it's not really necessary.  

 

Cyano is ugly.  But unless it's actively covering a coral, it doesn't usually hurt anything.  In fact, it's helping to keep the tank balanced.  (And any part covering a coral is easy to siphon out.)  

 

Since the treatment in this case is an antibiotic, and since the urgency is sub-necessity, THAT is why this treatment isn't usually recommended.  

 

Plus, and cyano can easily come back post-treatment.  Sometimes the treatment doesn't even work.  So I'm glad this time it at least had the intended effect.  👍

 

 

11 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

Added an air stone to the display and let the skimmer overflow into the sump to keep the water oxygenated. The ph dropped to 7.85. On a normal night it dips around 7.9 - 7.95. Did a 25% water change after 48 hours and let the skimmer pull out most of that water. Skimmer is still running a little crazy so I raised it up a couple more inches with my nice custom skimmer stand I bought on Etsy and it’s been running pretty consistently for the last few days. Quite a bit of green and brown hair algae growing.  Did a couple little projects - installed a float valve in the ATO reservoir (so I no longer have to keep an eye on it when filling it up) and hung the Kessil power bricks up out of the way with spacers for air, a velcro strap and hook. 

Nice set of mods!  👍

[mcarroll]

12 hours ago, RaymondNoodles said:

Looks like cyano, dino's, hair algae and maybe some chrysophyte in there too.

 

Geez man! 😉 

 

Keep up the work! 

[RaymondNoodles]

7 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Looks like cyano, dino's, hair algae and maybe some chrysophyte in there too.

 

Geez man! 😉 

 

Keep up the work! 

Yeah. I knew it was going to be a battle going in starting with dry rock and sand. Is this a result of adding too many fish too quickly? The tank cycled for a month before I added any livestock. Nutrients were right where they should be during and after cycle. I’ve maintained fairly stable NO3 and PO4. The fish I added are all juveniles and on the smaller side. The first fish (two clowns) were literally less than 1 inch when added.

 

Wondering what percentage of folks who start a reef tank this way are successful and what I could do/have done to make things better. It always seemed a little cruel to me to put fish in before the tank can process ammonia. I know many are successful this way though. The ammonia spike/bacteria dosing method doesn’t seem to be any less successful than throwing in a small hardy fish from day 1, in my research, but maybe I’m wrong. 
 

The cyano was starting to cover corals even blowing it off multiple times per day. I was changing/cleaning both filter socks at least once per day. The skimmer was pulling out a ton of gunk. The whole room (my office) smelled horrible. Dealt with this for a couple weeks before doing chemi clean. Glad it worked but hope that didn’t have other negative effects. 

 

I think my biggest fear was nutrients bottoming out and causing dinos but obviously there are many other things that can go wrong.

 

What would you do at this point? Wait it out? Would you dose Microbacter clean or start? I have both on hand. How risky would it be to add live rock and introduce disease? 

[RaymondNoodles]

Hey there. Overdue for an update. Things seem to be on track. The dinos are few and far between. Today it took me 20 mins with the scope to find one LCA. Hair algae was growing quickly over the last couple weeks but has slowed down significantly and the CUC has been doing a great job. I've been manually removing the hair algae daily. Four weeks ago I added 6 snails - 4 cerith and 2 astrea and 2 weeks ago I added 4 blue legged hermit crabs to help with the algae. The 3 huge top crowns are all doing well but I suspect I will need to slowly rehome at least 1 in the future when the tank stabilizes and algae growth slows. I lost 5 smaller snails so far and all 4 shells were found by the hawkfish's cave, so I suspect he has been picking them off. I've been trying to target feed him more. All 6 fish seem happy and healthy. I've been feeding 2x/day, combination of flake and pellets in the AM and rods reef frozen in the PM. The clowns are getting big and rarely leave each others side. The wrasses are still buddies also and hang out with the tailspot blenny. NO3 has been steady for a couple months at 3 - 5 ppm. PO4 reached max of .06 ppm in mid November when I stopped dosing and has been slowly declining since. PO4 currently at .01. Suspect the hair algae has been consuming a lot. The next couple weeks should be interesting to see if the dinos come back so I will be keeping a close eye on it. Haven't done a water change since 11/13 but have vacuumed the sand bed in small sections once a week or so. Scraping film algae from glass about every 3 days. Alkalinity dropped to 6 dkh a month ago and I felt stupid for not testing it sooner but I started dosing to slowly raise it to 8 dkh over the course of a couple days and have managed to keep it right round 8 dkh. I had a spare dosing pump so I've been dosing 3ml/day (current calculated loss is 1-2 ppm/day). Today I noticed a new acan polyp. The LPS corals all seem very happy. Lights are still at 30% max but reduced photoperiod by 1hr/day about a month ago when the hair algae took off. 

 

Other recent livestock additions: 3 rock flower nems, coco worm, pulsing xenia and GSP. Xenia and GSP are on islands and have been growing well. Also moved some clove polyps (one of my favorites) from the 20g to the 57g after they started getting crowded out when my BTA decided to split and shade the coral below. The 20g hasn't seen any new livestock in months and everything is happy and healthy so I feel the chance for transferring disease is low. I've dosed 3 rounds of pods and occasionally add a splash of phyto.

 

We put a new couch in the study/fish room which has been getting plenty of use 🙂

 

We hosted Christmas day and the family really loved looking at the tanks. My Aunt and Uncle kept a saltwater aquarium a decade or 2 ago so we had some great discussions. I don't have many close friends/family who are into aquariums so it's always fun chatting it up with those who are familiar. Cheers and happy reefing.

[RaymondNoodles]

Some pics from tonight