100g SCA First time reefer!

[Dmsick]

Here is a current FTS. It's not much to look at right now unless you really love hair algae! I've got some blue leg hermits and some more snails ordered. I ordered some bigger shells too so hopefully the hermits won't kill my snails. I posted in another thread that my torch coral seems to be suffering. I'm not sure why my other corals seem fine. I'm fighting high phosphates. I've added some phosguard to start bringing them down and cutting down on feeding. My other parameters are pretty good. I also have a reactor and some GFO on the way. I have 2 more weeks of quarantine for my Foxface and 3 lemon damsels. After that I'm considering a small tang and maybe a flame angel as the final fish for now. I'm considering a mandarin in 6 months or so if things are going well.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Here is a current FTS. It's not much to look at right now unless you really love hair algae! I've got some blue leg hermits and some more snails ordered. I ordered some bigger shells too so hopefully the hermits won't kill my snails. I posted in another thread that my torch coral seems to be suffering. I'm not sure why my other corals seem fine. I'm fighting high phosphates. I've added some phosguard to start bringing them down and cutting down on feeding. My other parameters are pretty good. I also have a reactor and some GFO on the way. I have 2 more weeks of quarantine for my Foxface and 3 lemon damsels. After that I'm considering a small tang and maybe a flame angel as the final fish for now. I'm considering a mandarin in 6 months or so if things are going well.

It’s bad but not too bad. Serious manual removal will help.

 

[Dmsick]

It’s bad but not too bad. Serious manual removal will help.

Thanks. After I took that pic, I "harvested" quite a bit. I think the phosguard is helping because it was a little easier to pull off of the rock.

 

[Dmsick]

So my protein skimmer seems to have died. I'm not sure when exactly. I'm certain it was working a few days ago when I cleaned the cup. It's an SCA so I wasn't expecting great longevity but was hoping for 6 months or more. I tried cleaning it and running it in a vinegar bath but it didn't work. I'm planning to get a Lifereef. How long can I go without protein skimming?

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Grab a used HOTB for the meantime, they work awesome and are very cheap if you find a used one.

 

[Dmsick]

I’m assuming you mean a hang on the back protein skimmer versus just a filter? I will have to see if I could pick one up at one of my local fish store. Unfortunately no place here has much in the way of salt water equipment. Will I be OK for a day or two until I can get another one?

 

[RichtheReefer21]

I’m assuming you mean a hang on the back protein skimmer versus just a filter? I will have to see if I could pick one up at one of my local fish store. Unfortunately no place here has much in the way of salt water equipment. Will I be OK for a day or two until I can get another one?

Yes, HOTB skimmer...

Check the dry good selling forum here..

I would make sure you have a skimmer before you add fish for sure. Even if its a ****** old one, must have IMO

 

[Dmsick]

Yes, HOTB skimmer...

Check the dry good selling forum here..

I would make sure you have a skimmer before you add fish for sure. Even if its a ****** old one, must have IMO

I will see what I can do. Thanks so much!

 

[Todvod]

Here is my tank as it stands today. My snails are working away at the diatoms. The one piece of live rock I started with has a bunch of hair algae on it as well. There is one big turbo snail who basically stays on that rock and seems to be cleaning up the algae on it. My nitrates have still been running pretty high. They were 40ppm yesterday. I did a large water change which brought them down to 20. I cut back on the lights for a couple days as well to help with the diatoms and hair algae. I have some chaeto in my refugium which might be growing. I don't think it's dying. I'm going to see how the nitrates do for the next couple days. If they don't drop then I'll do another large water change.

My skimmer is running and has some brown gunk in the neck but only tea colored water in the collection cup. I'm guessing it doesn't have a lot to pull out yet since there aren't that many critters and not much food. I'm really not sure how to fine tune it at this point. It's a SCA 302 that came with my tank. I feel like I might want to upgrade it but not sure if I really need to. I'm afraid cleaning it is going to be a huge pain because the collection cup seems like it doesn't detach for cleaning.
My clowns have a week and a half until they finish cupramine.

I feel like I'm about ready to add some corals. I really like zoas and scans. Anyone have any suggestions?

Am I missing anything?

I have the 302 skimmer as well. The collection cup does in fact detach. Twist back and forth to work it off the neck. A screw on cup would have been easier.

 

[Todvod]

I have the 302 skimmer as well. The collection cup does in fact detach. Twist back and forth to work it off the neck. A screw on cup would have been easier.

Oops. Didn’t see the original post was weeks ago.

 

[Dmsick]

Haha. Thanks for the feedback. I took the whole thing out today and gave it a good cleaning but unfortunately I think the pump has died. I’ve read elsewhere that the pumps are somewhat unreliable with some people getting long lasting function from them and others not doing so well. Unfortunately mine did not do so well.

 

[Dmsick]

So I ordered a Lifereef skimmer today. I'm hoping it will be the last skimmer I ever buy.

 

[Dmsick]

Lifereef skimmer came today. Here she is in all her glory. It’s a substantial piece of equipment! I also started a gfo reactor this last week in an effort to get my phosphates down a little. It’s been running about a week and my phosphates are still close to .1 with the seachem test. I still have tons of hair algae but I don’t think it’s growing as much. I added a few more snails and 4 blue legged hermits to help mow it down. My foxface can come out of qt on Thursday and I’m thinking he will help too!

 

[atx100r]

Sorry I havent read the entire thread...I'm assuming you are minimizing light usage. Or if possible reducing the appropriate spectrum. When I first started my tank I would run lights out for 2 or 3 days at a time so algae wouldn't got out of control....Only room light was present.

 

[Dmsick]

Sorry I havent read the entire thread...I'm assuming you are minimizing light usage. Or if possible reducing the appropriate spectrum. When I first started my tank I would run lights out for 2 or 3 days at a time so algae wouldn't got out of control....Only room light was present.

Thanks for the feedback. I have a few coral frags that I'm trying to acclimate so I've still been running my lights but not a full schedule yet.

 

[Dmsick]

Update.
I think I’m starting to beat back the hair algae! Between adding a gfo reactor, regular manual removal, my cuc and finally getting my foxface in the tank, I’m finally seeing improvement.
I added a few new frags this week. So far my corals have done ok except for the torch which unfortunately died.
This week I got a Favia, 2 more acans another zoa and 2 acro frags from the Aqua SD sale last weekend. They all seem to be doing ok.
I changed my gyre from a Jebao crossflow 150 to 120. The 150 was running on the lowest power and still too much flow for the fish. With the 120 I think I’m getting adequate water movement at about 50% and the fish are now swimming the whole tank.
My lifereef skimmer seems to be humming along as well.
I also got the Polyplab filter for my iPhone which has really helped with getting realistic looking pics.

 

[Preme]

That’s good that you’re beating the hair algae! I’m just hoping I don’t have to go through that in my new tank

 

[Dmsick]

That’s good that you’re beating the hair algae! I’m just hoping I don’t have to go through that in my new tank

It's a huge nuisance for sure. Hope you are able to avoid it!

 

[Dmsick]

In the last week the hair algae has really decreased. I started dosing Kalkwasser in my ATO since I was running on the lower side with pH and especially Alk despite using Reef Crystals. My fish all seem ok but I think my damsels seem to be rubbing on the rocks some. I posted another thread about it and it seems they may have a parasite. This is particularly irritating since I got them from DD and I quarantined them and treated with praziquantel and copper. Sometimes I think they are picking food or algae but other times it looks like they are rubbing their cheeks on the rock. I've tried to catch them to put them back into a hospital tank but no luck. I've ordered a fish trap but it looks like it won't get here until next week. They certainly seem healthy otherwise and I've seen no signs or symptoms on the 2 clowns and the foxface in the tank with them.
I have a small purple tang in quarantine. He is the last fish I plan to add for now. I've had him about 10 days. He came from Live Aquaria and seems healthy and eats really well. I treated him with Prazipro for 6 days only to realize I had charcoal in the filter. Ugh. I meant to take it out before adding the prazi...DOH. So I took out the charcoal, did a water change and added Prazipro.
Todays numbers are:
pH 8.2
Temp 78.8
Alk 8.5 (hanna)
Nitrate 5 or less (ATI kit is hard to tell for sure)
Ca 420 (Red Sea)
Mag 12oo (Red Sea)
P04 <.05 I think again Seachem test is hard to tell have Hanna on the way.

Acans and Favia are doing great. My favia has formed a new head I think. I have 2 acros one of which seems ok the other is not doing well. My zoas are weird. I have one that is doing well and has grown a new head or 2. I got a new one from the ASD live sale 2 weeks ago and it hasn't opened fully yet. I've tried a couple different spots in the tank but it just isn't happy. I'm just waiting to see if it perks up.
Here are some pics today.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Beautiful fish! Glad to hear he sounds healthy. He is going to love your display