12g Nano Cube DX build

[xiholdtruex]

so ended up picking some chaeto from a local reefer. Took my high power flash light and inspected his reef indepth before getting some pest free only amphipods. Fresh water dipped twice for 3 minutes each and picked a small bunch and put into tiny fuge. looks good so far and dipped the extra and put in a pitcher to have some extra just in case with a bubbler and a light.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Ended up finally picking up a salifert alk,ca and mag test kit. Checked them and these are my results.

Dkh - 10.2
Cal - 400 ppm
Mag- 1200 ppm

Going to check after my water change on saturday and monitor to see how much my tank is using in a week.

What do you guys think?

 

[xiholdtruex]

Tested water prior to my weekly water change.



Sg- 1.026

Ph 8.0

Ammonia - 0ppm

Nitrite- 0ppm

Nitrate - 5-10ppm

Po4 - 0.03ppm

Dkh - 10.2

Ca - 400ppm

Mag - 1260



increased Light cycle by half a hour to 6 hours and 30 minutes. Had decreased it when I had my original GHA problem.


Did a 2.5g wc coraline is starting to show but not as prominate yet

Everything else is looking good. Birds nest is starting to extend its polyps fully, monti is starting to show color again during lights on , war corals are starting to regain coloration also.

Think I may raise magnesium to 1350 and calcium to 420 but not sure if I want to dose anything yet. have esv 2 part on the shelf and can pick up mag fairly quickly if needed.
any input is appreciated

spot feeding every coral every other day with frozen foods from the san fransico bay brand mixed with a bit of reef roids, alternating between mysis, brine, plankton, and emerald entree. using 1ml of seachem reef plus, seachem phyto plankton and seachem zoo plankton. added 4x4x4 hob refugium lighting 12 hours a day with a golf ball size of clean chaetomorpha and diatoms are all gone it has almost grown to fill the entire box in a week.



any input is welcome to aid in recovery. I can honestly say that with the heavy feeding The coral coloration on the rock flower anemones , duncan and frog spawn is looking extra vibrant. once my camera filters come in I can get a better picture and video. when the lights are on the pics and video does not do it justice.

 

[xiholdtruex]

A little tank up date small vid prior to buying any new corals

tonight bought a frag of about 8 polyps of pandora palys, 3 polyps of pink zipper zoas, and another one that has orange and yellow. Dipped and cleaned up the plugs. no pests present just a little bit of normal reef crud and 2 vermetid snails scraped them off and deeply inspected the plug everything else was clean and changed one plug that had a snail in such a way it was much easier to swap.
It was the cleanest frag tank I have seen did not spot the vermetid snails till the polyps closed in my dip solution. will get some pics once they open up and say hello lol

 

[xiholdtruex]

Here is a few pictures of the pandora paly, pink zipper , mary jane and mixed zoa frag have no idea what the mixes zoas are called.

 

[Katrina71]

Your tank is great! Those pink zippers are very vivid.

 

[Katrina71]

Can you post a FTS? It's really pretty

 

[xiholdtruex]

Can you post a FTS? It's really pretty

Definitely! Here is two one with and without flash.

 

[Katrina71]

Love it!

 

[xiholdtruex]

lights just turned on but after about a hour or two everything opens up and the duncan gets huge lol

 

[Katrina71]

How big is that rfa in the corner?

 

[xiholdtruex]

How big is that rfa in the corner?

about 3 inches there is also one in the back right a little bigger about 4 inches

 

[Katrina71]

They are just stunning.

 

[xiholdtruex]

They are just stunning.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Thinking of moving all the zoa to the left bottom rock and the favia to the center right. In the rear center thinking of adding a candy cane frag to grow behind the center which I plan to make a hammer and frog spawn garden. Moving the montipora to the top left rock near the birdsnest is the plan so far.

Started using Dr Tims waste away today at half dose and every week upping the dose by 25% per dr tims customer service. Lets see if it makes any difference in the tank.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Finished Tank prep for Hurricane Dorian last night and it seems the eye will not hit us but we will defintely get hit with tropical storm, cat 1 winds. Did a 30% wc, sand vac, changed carbon, cleaned ato sensors, cleaned glass and dosed 75% dr tims waste away. The Water is looking very clean and they rocks and plugs seem to look alot cleaner. Coraline is starting to come back strong now.

Im glad its set to not make landfall in florida but now the east coast has to worry.

Tested the water and my alk is at a consistent 11.5 dkh and 440 ca. seems like the sweet spot for kalk in my ato is 4g or ro with 1/2 tsp of kalk and 1 g of plain ro.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Little update , tanks doing good. Got a single polyp of fire and ice from @Ernie Crucet whos beautiful bubble coral baptised it for growth. Picked up a neon green candy cane coral from another local reefer.

Went to mix some water for a wc and found my power head dead. Ordered some new mixing power heads and a mj900 to replace the stock return pump on the tank. Found my back up pump chewed through by my rabbit when he escaped -.-

 

[xiholdtruex]

Seems my very tiny fire and ice polyp dissapeared Here are some shots of the tank with a decent camera no filters yet.

 

[xiholdtruex]

My test this week prior to water change. since my mixing pump died and waiting for the new one

Ph- 7.8
Salinity - 35ppt
Nitrate - 2-5ppm
Phosphate - 0.1ppm
Alkalinity - 11.5 DKH
Calcium - 450ppm
Magnesium - 1380ppm

Started using a full dose of Dr. Tims Waste away yesterday after slowly working up 20% a week from a half dose. What I have observed is my power head , over flow grate, and rear compartments no longer have any oil fish gunk, frag plugs are looking alot cleaner and residual algae is gone from them. "Pineapple" sponges are starting to grow on the back side of my rocks. will continue to document any changes. But definitely see the difference in my power head and return pump.

No bacteria bloom so far so good.

 

[xiholdtruex]

Upgraded my return pump today from 106gph to 230 gph mj900, The flow is definitely increased lol my rear chamber water level dropped and had to readjust my ato sensor. currently between my power head and return I am at 51x turn over in the tank. Corals seem to be reacting well to the flow lets see how it goes will get some pictures later tonight after feeding.