Home Office Shallow Reef

[geekreef_05]

I noted early this AM that the Fish are breathing hard, so im prepping a 40% water change. 

 

That should help to remove some alk as well. 

 

I placed an order for some tropic marin bio calcium. I need to have more dosing control at this point. 

 

With all that going on, the c02 scrubber has been running for 24hrs and no change to pH. Boooooo. 

 

Either my diy tupperware scrubber aint working or I must be doing it wrong. I'll add a cup of water in the media container. Maybe that'll help.

[geekreef_05]

Right now...

 

This reef has more problems than a used 1990 pontiac 6000. 

 

Its so unstable that it could be a celebrity relationship. 

 

My reef has explosive gas potential. 

 

Theres so much sulfur in the air you'll wonder if my home has a cozy swamp motif. 

[geekreef_05]

Reef Update. 

• 40% WC complete. 
• Smell is gone.
• Fish breathing normally. 

[geekreef_05]

Parameter check 9AM:

pH: 7.78

Alk: 14 

Calc: 450

 

Dosing pumps are off, except for Mg. 

 

I'll check again at 9pm to get a feel for daytime alk and calc use.  

 

Fish Health

Fish were still breathing heavily this morning. Made me think, there's just not enough surface aggitation. Maybe thats been my problem the whole time. 

 

What if the bacteria blooms are low 02 thriving bacteria. 

 

Increase 02 and flow

I put a 3rd powerhead in the reef, something small i had laying around from the previous 13.5 fluvial.

 

Its facing the acros. They look better now that more flow is directed to them. 

 

And its about 1inch from the surface producing alot of surface movement

 

Lets see if this helps the fish. 

 

[geekreef_05]

Well, that did not work. 

 

Fish are still not looking great. Maybe it residual stress? 

 

The extra surface flow did nothing for my 02 levels. Just made a troch very uncomfortable. I unplugged the extra powerhead. 

 

And now it looks like my tidal 35 hob just died. No amount of hitting the motor or plug in/out would solve it lol. 

 

Maybe its a good thing. Cause it smells like death in there. Ive been changing filters in there weekly, but now its got the smell and distinct look (black gunk) of death. 

 

Its possible something crawled up in their died and has been causing my algae blooms the whole time. Took a couple weeks for decay to set in. Might explain the frothy water pre water change as well. 

 

Ugh. 

 

 

[geekreef_05]

Well, 

 

I shuffled off to the LFS and got a new tidal 35 hob, to replace the dead one. 

 

I'll install it in a bit. Its a big rewire job, cause all my dosing lines are attached to the hob. Oy vey. 

 

I'll use this opportunity to swap out the ato as well. The knock off duetto i have sucks. I have an older model that more rock solid, from my fluvial 13.5. 

 

On the plus fish my fish look alot better. Maybe there really has been something dead in the filter the whole time. It would explain things.

 

Lets see what this week brings, in terms of algae blooms. 

[geekreef_05]

Parameter check 9AM:

pH: 7.78

Alk: 13

Calc: 430

 

Only a 1 dkh drop and 20ppm calc over 24hrs. Dosing is off, except Mg.

 

I'll let it slide for another 24hrs and then check again. 

 

Generally the reef looks good today. Smells good. 

[geekreef_05]

Parameter check 9AM:

pH: 7.81

Alk: 11.6

Calc: out of reagent. Booo. Assuming the 20ppm drop every 24hrs remains consistent, its about 410ppm 

 

I'll start dosing All for Reef at 1/3 of the previous daily normal (50ml/day) and let that cushion the drop. 

 

I'll let dkh stablize around 10-11. 

[debbeach13]

Such a roller coaster. 

On 2/26/2023 at 9:31 AM, geekreef_05 said:

Generally the reef looks good today. Smells good. 

^ That is some good news, finally. Are the fish still looking better?

[geekreef_05]

Fish are looking good. Everything seems decent today. 

 

I adjusted the ATO water level, removing about 1.5litres from the aquarium to get to a slightly lower water level. Overnight there's often some dripping noticed and this should fix that. This has increased water surface movement and adding just 0.1 02. 

 

The C02 scrubber has been frustrating. I tried to create a recirculating loop but just ruined the skimmer tuning in the attempt. With a T split in the line, there was not enough air pressure for the skimmer. I would need a 2nd air pump for recirculation. I dont think im gonna go that far. 

 

After adding the cup of water, the C02 scrubber seems to raise pH by 0.05-0.1. Maybe more water would help.

 

FTS

 

I spent sometime routing an rodi line from my basement to my office. It goes through a wall at onepoint but is mainly following the trim/moulding along the house stairs and such.

 

 

 

I installed an rodi guaridan device with a solenoid on the ATO. Hopefully this works. I won't have to fuss with filling an ato any longer. 

 

I also replaced the larger twin 10 litre atos (foreground) i had with a single 5 litre. The 2nd 5 litre container will be for All for Reef. 

 

 

Here's some photos of the corals. Torches are looking good. 

 

Reef clarity is good. 

 

The birdsnests, millis and proscil are doing well. Polyp extension is good. Colours are good. They seem comfortable. I think they'll fair well long term in this aquarium. 

 

 

The acros however..are hanging in. Polpy extension isnt great at this point. They are underlit by about 50-100 par. I give them a low chance of long term survival. 

 

 

 

Oh and i got this tiny aveleopra frag, seems to be doing well. 

 

[geekreef_05]

[geekreef_05]

Early AM Update

 

My 02 level has risen to 8.2 overnight. Thats the best its ever been. Gotta be the slightly lower water level, adding alot more surface movement. 

 

Improvement of 0.2 over normal of 8.0 to 8.1. 

 

9am alk check coming up...

 

Alk is at 11.4 

pH: 7.8

 

Ive dosed about 25 ml of all for reef overnight. I'll keep that dosing schedule and check again tomorrow 9am. 

 

I'll setup my calc dosing today. My gut says the reef could use a pinch. I need to replace my calc test kit as well today. 

 

Now its a dosing roller coaster until the reef settles. 

[geekreef_05]

REEF STABILITY IS A MYTH

 

[mitten_reef]

2 hours ago, geekreef_05 said:

REEF STABILITY IS A MYTH

 

I thought you had a flood, phew …😅

[Band Hunter]

Love the dimensions of the tank.  Shallow reefs always catch my attention.

[geekreef_05]

 

REEF STABILITY IS NOT A MYTH 

..(as long as i dont have an earthquake or flood or a prolonged power outtage or godzilla attack or ...)

 

[geekreef_05]

12 hours ago, Band Hunter said:

Love the dimensions of the tank.  Shallow reefs always catch my attention.

 

 

Me too. The tank measures 48" long by 13" tall and 15" wide.

 

My favorite OG standard aquarium has been the 33 Long. I think it measured 48" long but 12" tall and i think 10" or 12" wide. 

 

Not a popular aquarium. But I dug the profile.

 

For best results i knew the tank needed to be much wider and one inch taller for comfort of the fish. I wanted to maintain that long and low profile. 

 

So i sought out a custom aquarium dealer in toronto and it took some patience, but it was worthwhile!

 

I expect to use this aquarium for decades.

 

AIOs are so good these days that a simple glass tank has to be that much more appealing for reefers,  in one way or another. 

[geekreef_05]

9AM Parameter Check

ph: 7.83

Alk: 11.1

Calc: 500 (new salifert test, i tested 3 times for confirmation). 

 

Alk is steadily slipping 0.2-0.3 per day. I'll let it slide some more. Nice and slow.

 

But thats quiet the boost in Calcium. 

 

I'll think about my next steps. 

 

I may need to back off the All for Reef and maintain Alk with Soda Ash. 

 

 

[geekreef_05]

Reef Update! 

 

The snails arrived! 20 Torchus snails in total, plus 2 lil bonus spotted snails that i don't recognize. 

 

 

They got a 30min acclimation while i went nuts with soundproofing panels all around the reef stand. 

 

First behind the reef..

 

To the side..

. 

 

And the inside:

 

I used some left over sound dentoning panels i had laying around from amazon. Originally i got them for a home theatre setup.

 

The result... It actually helps a noticeable amount. This is goood. Hmmm...silent reef

 

And once i was done the 20snails were ready for their new home. 

 

 

Hopefully they go to town on the rocks. The urchins have been more interested in coral bases and equioment cleaning than the rocks. They needed backup. 

 

Oy vey. 

[geekreef_05]

9AM Parameter Check 

ph: 7.8

Alk: 10.4

Calc: 500

 

The new torchus snail population is moving well. They're all over the rock and glass this morning, eating away. No flipped or stuck snails this morning. 

 

I cut back on All for Reef last evening, but calcium is still up there this morning. Went from 25 ml to 20ml and instead of overnight dosing all for reef will now be spread across 24hrs. 

 

Few drops of Soda Ash (3ml) went in last night, but obviously that did not have much of an effect. I've set it for 10ml this evening...i might adjust that before tonight . Id like to hold my Alk around this mark. Alk is set to dose only when lights are off. 

 

Updated Daily Dosing: 

Mg: 35ml

All 4 Reef: 20 ml

Soda Ash: 10ml

 

Now i'll use the opportunity to raise my overall pH with nightly soda ash dosing. Just as i had hoped for when i got the sps. 

 

Let see how this works out. 

[geekreef_05]

9AM Parameter Check 

ph: 7.83

Alk: 10.0

Calc: 480

 

Lost about 0.4 alk in 24hrs. I did not change my dosing schedule. And now im outta hanna Alk reagent until monday. I might slightly up the soda ash this evening...i'll think about it. 

 

Generally things are looking good, except the acros. Theyve had a slight colour change...but my gut says the delayed effects are about to begin. Alks been swinging like the playboy mansion since they got in there. Im just hitting stability in the last couple days.

 

Im gonna say the 4 Acros probably wont make it through the next week. I'll replace them with some easy sps...the birdsnest frags and millis and even the monti are doing great. More of them would be ideal. 

 

The snails are leaving some good cleaning streaks on the rocks now that they've been intank for 48hrs.

 

And this morning, i cut the skimmer and UV then dumped in this purple magical elixir that arrived in the mail.

 

 

This stuff is super costly and rare here in Canada. I got the purple stuff only, cause the pink stuff i could not find at all (would have got 1 of each if i could). I didnt find a single local or broadly local dealer (Ottawa-TO-MTL) but amazon had it for a small ransom. 

 

I dont see many people using this stuff, probably due to cost and long results timeline.

 

But i kept thinking about how key it is to cover the rocks in coralline asap. Took me sometime to pull the trigger on this product, perhaps i should have right from lights on in January and before corals and fish.

 

I believe early in a tank lifes its super affected by the existing dominant bacteria. If coralline is that dominant strain, then life on the reef will be grand.

 

Without liverock i dont think frags and live sand are adding enough coralline.

 

Lets see how this develops in 3 months! 

[ml86743]

Interesting product - you're right, I feel like many people don't consider adding bottled coralline.  Have you used it in the past?  I too seem to have a lack of coralline, I'm starting to see some small patches pop up here and there but nothing substantial.  

[geekreef_05]

Ive never used it before. I know its a relatively new addition to the reefing market (3yrs). 

 

I would be interested to hear results from folks who have used it.

 

[geekreef_05]

I got a quote for installing an HRV into my home today. 

 

$3,000! 

 

At that cost, I might have to let me brian cells just slowly die. Brains have no real bearing on personal happiness anyway. I'll get some fresh air and think about emptying my emergency wallet. 

[banasophia]

I added purple helix about a month or so ago too… waiting to see how it works in my tank.