100g SCA First time reefer!

[RichtheReefer21]

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.

Your rocks will leech until they stabilize, don't sweat swings right now.

I also noticed you want a flame angel, your LPS (especially your acans) will possibly be picked at and eaten. It happens quite often. Butterfly and Angels are notorious LPS pickers. It's always agamble, and sometimes you may get one that doesn't, but the odds are against you when keeping LPS. At any given time they could just start doing it.

Tank is coming along nice. Just remember take your time. If you need assistance with that, @NY_Caveman is a patience support counseling expert.

 

[Dmsick]

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

Thanks! I'm pretty excited about him.

 

[Dmsick]

Your rocks will leech until they stabilize, don't sweat swings right now.

I also noticed you want a flame angel, your LPS (especially your acans) will possibly be picked at and eaten. It happens quite often. Butterfly and Angels are notorious LPS pickers. It's always agamble, and sometimes you may get one that doesn't, but the odds are against you when keeping LPS. At any given time they could just start doing it.

Tank is coming along nice. Just remember take your time. If you need assistance with that, @NY_Caveman is a patience support counseling expert.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm doing my best to be patient. It's a challenge at times haha.
I've decided against the Angel. As you mentioned and I've read that they may nip at corals and I don't really want any more potential aggression. So far, all of the fish get along. The damsels chase each other a bit but none of them seem stressed. They haven't bothered the clowns. No one bothers the Foxface. I suspect the tang is going to be a bit of a bully when he gets in there but none of the fish are a threat to him so hopefully things will be peaceful.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm doing my best to be patient. It's a challenge at times haha.
I've decided against the Angel. As you mentioned and I've read that they may nip at corals and I don't really want any more potential aggression. So far, all of the fish get along. The damsels chase each other a bit but none of them seem stressed. They haven't bothered the clowns. No one bothers the Foxface. I suspect the tang is going to be a bit of a bully when he gets in there but none of the fish are a threat to him so hopefully things will be peaceful.

Take it from me, my build thread has the details. Rushed livestock and coral, lost $400 in fish in just over 4 months. Luckily I kept all my coral alive. I have been reefing for 7 months, and I have 48 Species of coral. lol... And instead of taking my time and learning first, I paid for the lesson with livestock loss and stress. All due to impatience.

 

[Dmsick]

Take it from me, my build thread has the details. Rushed livestock and coral, lost $400 in fish in just over 4 months. Luckily I kept all my coral alive. I have been reefing for 7 months, and I have 48 Species of coral. lol... And instead of taking my time and learning first, I paid for the lesson with livestock loss and stress. All due to impatience.

Wow. I just went through your thread. I had been through most of it a couple months back but finished it today. You really went through it. Glad things are better. I'm trying to learn from the mistakes of others, but I'm sure I'm going to make some of my own.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

All I can say is quarantine and dipping, and slow progression. I've been through hell making it to where I'm at.

 

[Dmsick]

All I can say is quarantine and dipping, and slow progression. I've been through hell making it to where I'm at.

Thats the plan!

 

[Dmsick]

I picked up a couple new corals from the ASD 40% off sale last weekend, A duncan, a torch, a spiderman monti and they threw in a favite frag as well. They all seem to be adjusting well.
The interesting development in the last week or so is the change in nutrients in my tank. I was dealing with a pretty heavy outbreak of hair algae. I started running a gfo reactor to help bring down my PO4 which was running pretty high (according to the Seachem test I was using). The hair algae started to disappear with the help of my CUC and Foxface as well as the GFO I assume. I was having trouble getting what I thought was an accurate measurement so I got a Hanna phosphate checker. I've tested probably 7 or 8 times with it over the last week and it has registered 0.00 every time but 1 and that reading was 0.04. I also got a Salifert nitrate test because I didn't trust my API kit. I'm also reading 0 nitrates with that test. I'd be OK with that but I'm losing 2 zoa frags and I can't help but wonder if it's a nutrient issue. I still have some algae on the sand and some on the rocks but definitely not the long stranded forest of hair I was dealing with before. Based on this I know there are some nutrients in the tank but I'm amazed they are all being taken up. I've upped my feeding to try and get NO3 and PO4 up a little. Aside from the 2 dying zoas all my other corals are doing well and seem happy including a small zoa cluster, 2 acros, multiple acans, favia and the new duncan, torch, and monti frags.
I guess I'll continue to feed a little more and see how things go with that for now. The one zoa was a freebie so I wasn't to attached to it but the other was ASD Kill Shots and I was pretty excited about it. It has never opened in my tank and I think it's melting at this point. I've had it about a month I think.

 

[Dmsick]

Forgot to mention I turned off the GFO when I realized my phosphates were so low and it's been off for 5 or 6 days

 

[Dmsick]

This week I've been feeding that tank like crazy trying to register some phosphates and nitrates but so far nothing! I'm testing phosphates with the Hanna checker and nitrates with Salifert. All my other params are staying pretty stable. I started dosing phosphate and nitrate today. I'm using the Brightwell supplements for this but may change to trisodium phosphate and potassium nitrate once it gets up a little bit. I was able to get the Brightwell stuff sooner so I thought I'd start with that. I picked up a dosing pump as well so will start that up this week and see if I can keep my nutrient levels stable.
The other big news of the day is Tennessee beat Auburn! Go Vols!!

 

[Dmsick]

It's an exciting week in my tank! This week my tank finally started showing some nutrients again. I did end up dosing Brightwell neonitrate and neophos 1 time. It seems like that kicked things up enough. That was about 5 days ago and now I'm measuring NO3 around 10 and P04 of .05. I'm growing a little more algae but my CUC and foxface are keeping up with it for now. The upside is the corals really seem to like it. My zoas are brighter and I'm finally seeing some little tiny polyps on my acro. I've seen some new corallites grow over the last several weeks but have never seen any polyps extend. Also my monti now has another "hand" reaching out of it. I previously only noticed the larger one but now there is a second small one. I'm guessing this is a good thing. Can anyone tell me the name of the "hand"? I've tried to look up montipora anatomy and haven't really found anything that describes it. I included a pic of it along with some polyps on my acro.
The pics are a little grainy but they tell the story.

 

[Dmsick]

It's been a few weeks since I've updated my thread. I added a few new corals from the Cherry Corals live sale a couple weeks ago. They seem to be doing fine. My purple tang finished quarantine on friday and I added him to my DT. I added him in the evening hoping to keep aggression to a minimum. The tang went straight to the cave where my foxface sleeps. The tang immediately started tail slapping him. The foxface flared his fins and turned on a his side to direct his fins towards the tang. After a few minutes the tang stopped and the two stayed in the same area for most of the night. Since then they seem to be friends. The tang follows the foxface around the tank and they graze on the rocks together. I haven't seen any signs of aggression since.
I still seem to be fighting algae. My rocks are covered and the sand is covered within a few days of vacuuming it. My nitrates are running 10-15 and phosphates are around 0.3. I added some more chaeto to my refugium to see if it will help with the algae in the DT.
Here are a couple pics, FTS and my favorite new coral Cherry Corals, Cherry Limeade.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Looks like a barnacle. Harmless filter feeder. Should not bother the coral.

 

[Dmsick]

Looks like a barnacle. Harmless filter feeder. Should not bother the coral.

Thanks for the feedback. Another poster said they thought it might be a feather duster. I've considered dipping the coral again but it doesn't seem to be harming it so I've left it alone.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Thanks for the feedback. Another poster said they thought it might be a feather duster. I've considered dipping the coral again but it doesn't seem to be harming it so I've left it alone.

They are both harmless filter feeders that pop up between corals occasionally where they get some protection.

 

[Dmsick]

They are both harmless filter feeders that pop up between corals occasionally where they get some protection.

Thanks. There is so much to learn in this hobby. I feel like I've learned a ton but still feel like an idiot much of the time haha.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Thanks. There is so much to learn in this hobby. I feel like I've learned a ton but still feel like an idiot much of the time haha.

Me too!

 

[Dmsick]

Here is the current state of my tank. Everything is looking pretty good right now. The only recent change is a new refugium light. I originally started with a cheap eBay LED which looked pretty good but unfortunately never grew chaeto. I've been struggling on and off with algae and consistent nutrient levels. I got the idea that my light might be inadequate. I did some searching on here and found this one https://www.amazon.com/Growstar-Spe...&keywords=led+grow+ufo&dpPl=1&dpID=417BnySa9v
It's been a game changer. My macros are growing and the algae in the tank is essentially gone! All my livestock seems to be thriving. So now I'm just waiting for the next problem to develop haha.
Hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Dmsick]

It's been a while since I've posted an update. I upgraded to a Lifereef sump with refugium. It really cleaned up the inside of my stand. I added a few new corals and a bubble tip anemone from the recent ASD 30% off sale. The anemone seems to be doing really well and it's beautiful. The only problem is he chose a spot on the backside of my rock work! I tried putting a power head on him to get him to move but he just hunkered down. I decided to leave him alone for now in hopes that he will relocate to a better spot (for me ha).
Here's a recent FTS and a pic of the nem as well as my new sump.

 

[Dmsick]

Thought I'd post an update. I'm glad I started this build thread because it's a nice way to look back and see the progression of my tank. I sometimes feel like nothing has changed but obviously things are progressing (albeit slowly!).
I started ATI essentials a couple weeks back. I sent off my water and my alk had drifted down pretty low along with my salinity despite weekly water changes. I've slowly corrected those and started dosing ATI essentials pro. My corals seem to be happier and growing.
I've lost 2 fish. Both were damsels and both killed by the third damsel. He's now turning his aggression to one of my clownfish. I've tried trapping him with no luck. I'm going to have to get him out because I'm not willing to lose another fish to him. I have some micro hooks and am planning to "go fishing" for him soon.
I have a Mombasa Lion Fish in my QT. He's transitioning to frozen food pretty well. It's been a slow process but I think he's finally got it. He swims into the net to take the food! The techniques on Lionfish Lair were really helpful. I haven't had good luck with forceps or a feeding stick. I like the net though because I know the other fish aren't going to go near his food when I feed him in the big tank. I was worried about the other fish taking his food but I'm pretty sure they won't come near the net.