100g SCA First time reefer!

[Dmsick]

Thought I’d post an update. My tank is working it’s way through the uglies with a nice growth of green hair algae. Nitrates are finally coming down. My favorite CUC member is my Mexican Turbos! These guys are serious algae wreckers!

 

[Dmsick]

I finally got some coral! My first coral frags arrived today from Aquasd.com. I got extraterrestrial zoas, black torch, aussie red acan lord, and a freebie that I don't know what it is. I dipped them in Bayer, rinsed them well in tank water and placed them in the tank. All of them opened up right away and seem to be doing OK. I also finished QT for my 2 saddleback clownfish and put them into the tank. The hair algae is subsiding thanks to my CUC!
Things are starting to look lively

Does anyone know what the frag is in the bottom pic?

 

[Dmsick]

I need some guidance please. I added 4 coral frags about 10 days ago as you can see above. They all seem to be doing well. I also have 2 clowns and a host of snails in the tank. Hair algae is still growing like crazy. I did a 10 percent water change 1 week ago. I tested my water today and here are the numbers. Salt is IO Reef Crystals
SG 1.024
pH 8.07

So, my alk is low. Should I treat it with water changes or should I start dosing alk? If so, which method should I use?

 

[Dmsick]

Here are a couple pics of some of my livestock. My corals are doing ok as far as I can tell. My 2 clownfish are certainly healthy. My parameters seem good but I'm being overrun with hair algae. Some of it is probably from overfeeding. I'm trying to feed a little less. I spent an hour yesterday picking it out and then did a about a 10% water change. I did the same about 5 days ago. My phosphate was a little higher after which I'm attributing to manipulating so much algae. It's been running around 0.05 but was around 0.08 after yesterday. I've been thinking about starting nopox to help the algae. I really want to get my foxface in there but he's not ready yet. My 3 lemon damsels and foxface are still in QT. I finished a week of prazipro, ran 24 hours of carbon and then did a big water change. Today I started copper. I only added half the starting dose but my foxface seems pretty unhappy. He's been hiding in the corner with his shy stripes on. He hadn't been doing that except at night. He did come out to eat when I fed them though so hopefully he's ok.

 

[dgruic0712]

I don’t think your alk is necessarily low, but your pH is a little low, you can raise alk using 2 part or kalkwasser. Both methods will also raise pH so keep that in mind

 

[Dmsick]

I don’t think your alk is necessarily low, but your pH is a little low, you can raise alk using 2 part or kalkwasser. Both methods will also raise pH so keep that in mind

Thanks so much for the feedback. My pH fluctuates between 8.0 and about 8.16 throughout the day/night cycle. I was thinking that was in the acceptable range. My alk was much better when I checked parameters yesterday. It was 9.8 yesterday. I've done 2-10% water changes this week trying to keep my phosphate down to try to combat the hair algae which is currently thriving in my tank. I've been planning to switch to a higher alk salt mix to see how that does. Is this a reasonable idea?

 

[dgruic0712]

I don’t really like the idea of changing salts unless the original salt is causing harm. Unless you are using a low quality salt I don’t see the need to change. Regular water changes will keep your alk, cal, mag stable, and replenish trace elements, whereas an additive like 2 part will raise your alk, cal, and mag levels. What salt are you using?

 

[Dmsick]

Thanks for the reply.
I've been using IO Reef Crystals but I don't like the residue it leaves in the mixing containers. I started with Fritz RPM but it was a pain to get so I tried Reef Crystals but was going to go back to the Fritz high alk version. I didn't think it would make a huge difference if the transition is gradual (small water changes). What do you think?

 

[Oshengems]

Your tank is looking good, I wouldn’t change the salt or the alk levels I was running 7 for about a year no issues the only thing with low alk in the 7 you don’t have that cushion if anything was to go wrong and it drops into the 6-5s I keep mine at 8.5 now, as for salt I was using Red Sea pro for about a year and switched over to IO the Orange bag with High alk and Ca just because it was cheaper and I was planning on doing more water changes which are still random 10-20% every 4-6 weeks my corals didn’t even feel the switch, salt will be just a preference, now for dosing when my tank was first set up since demand was low I was tossing a few scoops of kalk into my ato and was maintaining high PH 8.10-8.45 and good numbers on Kh and Ca deman was low so it worked the first 6-7 months but once my SPS took off had to switch to 2 parts only because the kalk mix was too much vs my PH I had my ato with apex to stop top off if PH was above 8.45 that was a problem I wasn’t topping off consistently the mix was too potent and I was seeing my pump getting much dirtier decided to switch to avoid further damage. Now as for your algae i feel it’s the same as the nitrifycation cycle there’s like an algae cycle as well we all go through it and I’ve had in my 3 builds, your phosphate and nitrates seem fine concentrate more on testing Kh and keeping that number as steady as you can nitrates an Phosphate won’t get too out of control if you’re using clean RODI water and skimming well, Blue leg hermit crabs and male emerald crabs I have seen do an excellent job at keeping my rocks nicely trimmed and of course my tang and dwarf angel. Something I have noticed that i feel has been the only difference between my previous 2 builds has been flow this tank I feel is getting better success because I have a ton of flow just below that line that will create a sand storm but I have been getting better growth on all my corals even the low flow corals just had to place them strategically next to rocks to reduce flow hitting them but they seem to love the indirect turbulence.

 

[Dmsick]

Your tank is looking good, I wouldn’t change the salt or the alk levels I was running 7 for about a year no issues the only thing with low alk in the 7 you don’t have that cushion if anything was to go wrong and it drops into the 6-5s I keep mine at 8.5 now, as for salt I was using Red Sea pro for about a year and switched over to IO the Orange bag with High alk and Ca just because it was cheaper and I was planning on doing more water changes which are still random 10-20% every 4-6 weeks my corals didn’t even feel the switch, salt will be just a preference, now for dosing when my tank was first set up since demand was low I was tossing a few scoops of kalk into my ato and was maintaining high PH 8.10-8.45 and good numbers on Kh and Ca deman was low so it worked the first 6-7 months but once my SPS took off had to switch to 2 parts only because the kalk mix was too much vs my PH I had my ato with apex to stop top off if PH was above 8.45 that was a problem I wasn’t topping off consistently the mix was too potent and I was seeing my pump getting much dirtier decided to switch to avoid further damage. Now as for your algae i feel it’s the same as the nitrifycation cycle there’s like an algae cycle as well we all go through it and I’ve had in my 3 builds, your phosphate and nitrates seem fine concentrate more on testing Kh and keeping that number as steady as you can nitrates an Phosphate won’t get too out of control if you’re using clean RODI water and skimming well, Blue leg hermit crabs and male emerald crabs I have seen do an excellent job at keeping my rocks nicely trimmed and of course my tang and dwarf angel. Something I have noticed that i feel has been the only difference between my previous 2 builds has been flow this tank I feel is getting better success because I have a ton of flow just below that line that will create a sand storm but I have been getting better growth on all my corals even the low flow corals just had to place them strategically next to rocks to reduce flow hitting them but they seem to love the indirect turbulence.

Thanks so much for the input. I like the way you think. I think I'll just stay the course for now and see how things go. The algae is tough to look at. My snails do a pretty good job but I just don't have enough of them to handle the volume of algae. I would add a few more but I don't want them to starve when things calm down. I think the foxface will be a big help but it's going to be a couple weeks before he gets in there.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Awesome build so far!

 

[dgruic0712]

Yeah I personally use IO I don’t mind the residue it leaves behind, but I’ve used RSCP before and it mixes really clean and fast it was just way more expensive than IO

 

[Oshengems]

Thanks so much for the input. I like the way you think. I think I'll just stay the course for now and see how things go. The algae is tough to look at. My snails do a pretty good job but I just don't have enough of them to handle the volume of algae. I would add a few more but I don't want them to starve when things calm down. I think the foxface will be a big help but it's going to be a couple weeks before he gets in there.

NP bud, what does your clean up crew consist of? I have a ton of critters 5-6 Blue leg hermits for the rocks, 2 Giant turbos, 1 huge emerald crab, 2 giant astrea which kept laying eggs and now I see a bunch babies everywhere, 6-7 nassarius and 3 big strawberry conch for the sand, 4-5 trochus snail, 2 big stomalia snails(hitch hikers) and I see bristle worms at night, I’m probably missing a few I’m sure but in the future with more fish left over settled food won’t be a problem to feed these critters plus the algae keep that in mind.

 

[Dmsick]

Awesome build so far!

Thanks!!

 

[Dmsick]

Yeah I personally use IO I don’t mind the residue it leaves behind, but I’ve used RSCP before and it mixes really clean and fast it was just way more expensive than IO

IO definitely has the advantage in terms of cost and availability!

 

[Dmsick]

NP bud, what does your clean up crew consist of? I have a ton of critters 5-6 Blue leg hermits for the rocks, 2 Giant turbos, 1 huge emerald crab, 2 giant astrea which kept laying eggs and now I see a bunch babies everywhere, 6-7 nassarius and 3 big strawberry conch for the sand, 4-5 trochus snail, 2 big stomalia snails(hitch hikers) and I see bristle worms at night, I’m probably missing a few I’m sure but in the future with more fish left over settled food won’t be a problem to feed these critters plus the algae keep that in mind.

I have 2 big Mexican Turbos, 3 Nerites (at least I think I have 3. I only see one regularly) I have a couple big ceriths and a bunch of dwarf ceriths along with a few nassarius. I could probably support some more. I don't have any hermits.

 

[Oshengems]

Nice you are off to a great start, toss in 2-3 hermits the blue legs are great a mowing that lawn see how they they work for you, as to the IO I also have no issue with the recidue it leaves behind since that container is only used for new salt mix

 

[PanchoG]

Nice you are off to a great start, toss in 2-3 hermits the blue legs are great a mowing that lawn see how they they work for you, as to the IO I also have no issue with the recidue it leaves behind since that container is only used for new salt mix

The hermits will do a great job mowing. Just watch them because they may go after your turbo snails.

Nice build.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Keep plenty of "upgrade" shells for your hermits... mine have slaughtered all but the largest turbos and seized the shells.

 

[Dmsick]

The hermits will do a great job mowing. Just watch them because they may go after your turbo snails.

Nice build.

Keep plenty of "upgrade" shells for your hermits... mine have slaughtered all but the largest turbos and seized the shells.

Thanks for the feedback! I've been hesitant with hermits because I was concerned they would kill my snails. I guess that would be ok if they turned out to eat the algae better. My turbos are currently the workhorses in my tank though!