bosco’s Reef Casa Vila 24 build

[TheKleinReef]

you'll love the conch. they're so fascinating to watch.

[boscoT]

I have been using the Eddie Putra AI prime 16HD schedule as it looks best to my eye.  I have modified the time to reduce the ramp up and ramp down.  I made a 50% and 75% reduced so that my diatom didn't spike.  I was playing with it the other schedule the other night and loaded the 100% and within 12 hours my entire tank had a brown/yellow dusting all over it.  

 

I shut the lights off for two days and started it back at 50%.  

 

Just completed a 25% water change 6gal and I am also slowly bringing salinity from 1.026 down to 1.025.  I like a buffer so this is better in the long run I think.  

 

ATO issues this week with the TUNZE 3155.  The skimmer break in on my 9001 was creating some micro bubbles and that was impacting the sensor on the ATO to call for water.  I moved the ATO tube to the middle chamber away from the float as well.  It has been 5 days (knock on wood) with no alarms going off at night.  I did run the ATO pump dry last week because of this and it wouldn't start up again.  I read to rinse it in water upside down and that did the trick.  

 

I removed the reef Casa carbon bags today and added my first bag of chemi-pure elite.  I will replace every 4 weeks moving forward.  

 

I did a very light syphon of the substrate.  I don't want to do this too often, just enough to get some of the diatom bloom out.  I also used the fluval turkey baster to blow the life rock before removing the water.  

 

Fingers crossed but I think I am finally getting a hang of this maintenance schedule.  I think one more month and I will start with some easier to keep corals.  

[boscoT]

I tried the TUNZE coral gum on my one piece of life rock that was moving around today.  I had some fluval but I read so many stories of clouding the tank etc.  The coral gum was highly recommended and I must say that it hardened well underwater and I had no cloudy water.

 

Just an fyi for anyone considering options for established tanks!

[TheKleinReef]

i agree. coral gum is great. I used it to hide the zip ties holding my rock together.

the two little fishies epoxy is great too.

 

neither make the skimmer go nuts

[boscoT]

11 minutes ago, TheKleinReef said:

i agree. coral gum is great. I used it to hide the zip ties holding my rock together.

the two little fishies epoxy is great too.

 

neither make the skimmer go nuts

Yes so far so good with my skimmer.  
 

I am finally making skim too ugly brown. The skimmer is finally not just wet and clear water lol.  I’m feeling very pleased overall with this little system.  Patience has been the key in this setup along with money lol

[TheKleinReef]

17 minutes ago, boscoT said:

Yes so far so good with my skimmer.  
 

I am finally making skim too ugly brown. The skimmer is finally not just wet and clear water lol.  I’m feeling very pleased overall with this little system.  Patience has been the key in this setup along with money lol

well if there's organics for the skimmer to take out, it won't.

looks like the nutrients are building up, which is great great news!

[boscoT]

I checked my alkalinity for the first time today.  Not a huge deal yet as I do not have any corals.  I am a bit low and may introduce a ecotech versa to dose All-for-reef with.  I wouldn't mind seeing the alkalinity around 8 or 9 as I prepare for coral.  

 

Everything else is on a steady decline and ammonia is officially clear from the tank.  Nitrates have been dropping by half each week as I work to less than 1ppm.  Phosphates are almost where I want them.  I am aiming for 13ppb as it is the middle of the range.  

 

I don't think that I will test for calcium as I will be running 'All-for-reef' and they say that you can test Alkalinity and be in range of most other levels.  So less is more for me.  I will be running softies and LPS I really don't think that I will be diving into SPS coral....  time will tell

 

[TheKleinReef]

I'm not a fan of AFR. 

If you're salt mix doesn't match your desired level of alk, i'd be wary of using exclusively AFR.

 

If you're going to use it, make any adjustments to your alk levels with classic two part, and use AFR for maintaining only. 

[boscoT]

with the cooler weather my tank is struggling to hit 78.  It has been 76 over the past two days and I have it set to 80 now.  It is an aquael Ultra 100w for my 24gal.  I am trying to decide what to do.  I do not have a controller system yet and not sure I will.  

 

My current options 

 

buy a second 100w unit

 

Or buy a 150w 

 

can anyone add input? 

[boscoT]

added a six line wrasse very small.  With these three fish it’s likely all that I will have.  Maybe a clown goby but not sure yet.  I’ll keep an eye on it for aggression.  My fingers are crossed that I have a non jerk one like I had once before.  
 

it’s actually helped to calm the clowns down who seem to be pairing slowly now.  
 

[debbeach13]

He is cute. I hope it works out. I had one years ago that was a great addition. Always out and about.

[boscoT]

Been a week of diatoms… CUC is super busy and my conch is mowing the gravel as fast as it appears.  
 

I reduced the Eddie Putra AI prime lighting schedule to 50% tonight.  Water was a bit cloudy and I am doing daily filter floss changes as they go a deep brown everyday.  
 

added a skunk cleaner shrimp who appears to be happy.  Just contemplating one last fish to go with my two clowns and a small six line wrasse.  
 

I am leaning towards a clown goby but I am totally open to suggestions.  
 

I’ll update water parameters tomorrow.  
 

 

[boscoT]

My alk is up with just water changes.  My Red Sea blue bucket salt mix says it maintains 8 dkh.  Phosphates are down but I had a double up on nitrate and 0 still on ammonia.  

 

Would it be safe to assume that this is a byproduct of over feeding?  I also had to set my heater to 80 because it was struggling to maintain 78 when set to 78.  I do have a diatom break out but manageable so far.  

 

I did a 6 gal water change last night.  I am considering maybe another 6 gal tomorrow.  

 

Any thoughts as to what is happening?

 

[boscoT]

I did another water change this morning early at 5gal.  I am not sure why the nitrate spiked, perhaps a dead nassarius in the sand bed or like I said before, over feeding....

 

I am going to add a third trochus snail and place it in the rear chamber.  I can't see that being a problem and may just help get rid of some of the stuff that I can't see.  

 

I am going to add a few more snails to the tank today too.  I plan on another 3 nassarius and 3 cerith

 

That will put the CUC at

 

1 strawberry conch

6 nassarius

6 cerith

3 trochus 

0 crabs.... I like them but they always give me grief at some point

[boscoT]

Found an empty nassarius shell today, and it stunk.  I read that dead snails are like ammonia bombs lol

 

I added 2 new nassarius and one is great the other is not moving but I can still see its trunk going in and out.  I read that nassarius can get stressed out.  I will give it until tomorrow night and make the decision to remove it before it dies and pollutes the tank.  

 

I went and picked up some more salt mix today, some refills for nitrate and phosphorus ULR and an auto fish feeder for an upcoming trip that I have planned.  

 

I tested the water today after my water change.  My nitrates were down to 7.1.  I am going to do another 5 gal tomorrow and probably one more on the weekend.  

 

What is an acceptable nitrate level?  I have read below 1.... I don't think that I am ever going to get there

[TheKleinReef]

I’ve seen amazing tanks with nitrate levels from 5 all the way to 25. Don’t keep them at 0, lots of problems come with 0 nitrate. 

[boscoT]

It has been one of those weeks with this new tank...

 

I found an empty snail shell, probably contributing to a cycle of some sort and nitrate spike by the time that I caught it.  I did three, five gal water changes throughout the week as the water was a bit cloudy and my nitrates had climbed.  I purchased a larger vac, as the mini just wasn't cutting it for me.  I did vac the substrate in heavier diatom spots.  The CUC seems to be doing its job by keeping everything under control

 

My water yesterday has reduced nitrates and phosphates... and my alk was up over 8!!!

 

 

I removed my biomedia from my media basket, and I purchased the inTank poly filter pads (blue/white). I cut them into the correct size and they seem to do a better job and filtering than the cheap filter floss that I purchased.  

 

I have also been fighting my Tunze 3155 Osmolator ATO....

 

I have read that it is not recommended for nano tanks... that now makes sense. Every night, my rear compartment would overfill and the alarm kept going off.  I have improved the flow, cut a corner off of my filter floss to allow for a steady flow.  I have also adjusted the skimmer to reduce bubbles, I cleaned the ATO sensor as well as readjusted the float to a better height.  All of that... and the alarm keeps going off at night. 

 

Last night I waited for the tank to overfill.  I heard it kick on three times very quickly in the dark and when I put the light on, I found a trochus snail on the overflow grill, causing a reduction in water flow.  This made the ATO cal for water.  

 

For now, I have programmed my smart powerbar to shut the ATO off at 10pm and not to turn back on until 8:30am.  This will prevent this from happening at night.  When the Tunze turns back on it runs a 15 second diagnostic and will fill the tank.  This shouldn't matter as the tank will have evaporated over night.  

 

I am looking at a screen for the intake. I found one called kraken reef for a waterbox tank.  I am not sure if it will fit, but for 17.00 I may order it and give it a try.  

 

I am slowly making progress but man what a frustrating week it was

[boscoT]

Looks like the tweaks that I made this week are paying off.  I have started shutting the ATO off with my smart powerbar between 10pm and 8am.  This helps avoid the busy snails working with the lights off and killing the water flow when they sit in front of my intake for my AIO rear chamber.  

 

[boscoT]

with good comes bad....

 

Messed up really bad tonight.  I removed the Sicce return pump to clean it and take it apart.  I decided to trim the hose that came with the reef Casa as it was a little big.  I cut maybe a 1/4" from the top of the line.  I reconnected the plastic elbow that connect to the random flow generators.  

 

The lights go out and I am getting ready to go to bed, and I hear running water...

 

I see water spraying from my third chamber and can't figure it out.  Then I see that I did not fit the hose on the elbow enough and the corner had given away.  I got the pump shut off and looked at the damage.  I am thinking that it only ran for a minute or two max.  But enough to soak the walls and cabinet.  Did not impact the power bars as they are away from the rear of the tank.  

 

I boiled water and soaked the tip to soften the plastic to fit the elbow piece then cooled it to shrink the plastic.  Hopefully that doesn't happen again.  

 

Everything has been doing well so I was due for a mishap.  I am leaving for Florida on Friday for a few days and now I am super nervous about leaving the tank.  

 

What a stupid mistake, The corner is very tight and I had some trouble getting everything wiped up.  I would have to drain a bunch of water to slide the tank out of the way to get in the corner.  I have stuffed towels for the night to absorb the water and will assess in the morning.

 

Dumb, dumb, dumb mistake by me

[banasophia]

Oh no!! Are you saying your return pump hose detached from the elbow and random flow nozzle so water was just shooting out of the hose from the pump? That’s terrible!
 

Sounds like a good method for fixing the connection, but that your work is still cut out for you getting everything dried up. I hope it’s not too much of a hassle!!

[boscoT]

4 hours ago, banasophia said:

Oh no!! Are you saying your return pump hose detached from the elbow and random flow nozzle so water was just shooting out of the hose from the pump? That’s terrible!
 

Sounds like a good method for fixing the connection, but that your work is still cut out for you getting everything dried up. I hope it’s not too much of a hassle!!

It disconnected partially creating more of a water flow like when you place your thumb over top of a garden hose.  It was spraying out one side and soaked my walls and floor.  I am just so grateful that I caught it before I fell asleep

[banasophia]

6 hours ago, boscoT said:

It disconnected partially creating more of a water flow like when you place your thumb over top of a garden hose.  It was spraying out one side and soaked my walls and floor.  I am just so grateful that I caught it before I fell asleep

Omg yes thank goodness!! That could have been a total disaster! Do you have a moisture alarm by your tank? I got one when I was running a UV sterilizer because I thought the hoses might disconnect unexpectedly and it’s good to have an extra layer of safety.

[boscoT]

18 hours ago, banasophia said:

Omg yes thank goodness!! That could have been a total disaster! Do you have a moisture alarm by your tank? I got one when I was running a UV sterilizer because I thought the hoses might disconnect unexpectedly and it’s good to have an extra layer of safety.

I have never heard of a moisture alarm.  I will take a look today!!!  Thanks

[boscoT]

Sorted that loose hose out and everything seems to be running smooth.  

 

Yesterday I decided that the return pump and Nero 3 wasn't producing enough flow in the tank.  I was starting to get an oil film in the morning on top of the water and I also felt like I had a dead spot along the front and back of the tank and along the right side.  

 

I picked up a second AI Nero 3... I have them set up running their own schedules currently as I do not totally understand the parent set up.  From what I have read, the Nero pumps can only run in opposing sequence during pulse phase.  When I run continuous or random, they appear to do the same thing.  I will learn more about this as I go.  

 

I definitely have better movement and run the new one on the ridge top side directionally towards the left.  This runs at a higher % than the one on the left rear half way down.  The currents are colliding and the fish seem to love it.  

 

This stirred the tank up really bad.  I had things in places that I thought were clean.  I have changed my filter media twice and completed a 20% water change this morning.  The water was really dirty and yellow, but I did vacuum the sand bed today as well.  I think we should have better flow to the rear AIO intake.  Surface agitation as doubled 

 

I also got the Eheim auto feeder setup yesterday and went with a new pellet that was smaller.  I was finding that the clowns and wrasse were ignoring the feed as the pellets were too big.  I was constantly feeding frozen, also contributing to extra waste in the tank.  

 

I plan on frozen feeding 3 days a week and pellets twice a day for the next little while.  

 

I have blacked the room out today and hope to get some of this diatom under control

[boscoT]

On Sunday, I added a new chemi pure elite that I purchased last month and decided to try Seachem purigen for the first time.  I have one more chemi elite left then I am going to switch to chemipure blue to save some room for water flow.  

 

With the introduction of the new Nero 3 and rinsing out my return pump this week, my water was so cloudy and I was worried that I may have triggered another cycle.  

 

I did 5gal water change on Wednesday and today for a total of 10gal (40%) total volume

 

I tested today with some surprising results.  My water with 1.025 Red Sea blue bucket seems to be hitting right around 8dkh.  This has been consistent over the past month.  So I am finally comfortable with where my natural levels are.  

 

Ammonia 0 and my nitrates have dropped from 6.3 to 1.9 over the week.  I am going to chalk this up to the purigen being added.  

 

Phosphates have taken another drop from 5ppb to 2ppb or 0.006ppm 

 

My water is crystal and I mean crystal clear for the first time since being set up.  I added intank double layer filter floss the blue and white stuff.  It appears to be really helping with the polish on the water today.  

 

I have had the lights off all yesterday and reduced to feeding times for today only.  I added an auto fish feeder to be more consistent with my feeding as well.   

 

Diatoms are still coming but definitely better.  I am going to order the IM universal UV with built in pump this weekend and I am planning on ordering an echotech versa doser.  I am going to try and start out with just using AFR but I am completely open to a more traditional 2 part if it is a no go.  

 

Finally a step in the right direction over the past few months, I have already had some highs and many lows but I am starting to feel better about jumping into this little hobby again