70g DIY Peninsula 40x20x20"

sikorskys · Nov 3, 2018

This is how I test my water.

It's custom made magnetic stirrer. 3D-printed body, USB charging, controlled speed and backlight on a separate switch. Cost me $30.

And that's SOOO easier to do a titration test this way I can't believe they don't sell such stirrers everywhere.

sikorskys · Nov 4, 2018

Speaking of testing, here is my current FTS and params.

Salinity: 35ppt
Temp: 82.4F
kH: 9.5 (Salifert)
Ca: 460 (Salifert)
NO3: undetectable (Salifert)
PO4: undetectable (Salifert)

Chaeto grows like crazy. I have virtually zero new GHA growth and its overall amount is decreasing. My skimmer cup is filling much slower that before. At the same time, all my seriatoporas are dying and duncan show no PE, while digitata looks fine.

I prefer to believe it's a deficiency of some sort. My water may be too clean at the moment. Or not

I would be happy to change some water just to see what happens but... I run out of salt, again

sikorskys · Nov 5, 2018

This system is never meant to be an ULNS. It is what it is though, so I have to adopt.

In order to compensate absence of nutrients I've started to dose amino acids and vitamins. I'd be happy to use Red Sea Energy A/B but... they aren't available at the moment, you know

So I've got the same (I think) products from Aquaforest. Polish AF is easily available and really cheap in Ukraine since Poland is literally next to us

Then, I've shortened fuge photoperiod from 12 to 6 hours. I don't like reading absolute zero for nutrients since you newer know HOW low is the real value. In addition to that, I've turned off my skimmer.

And finally, since elevated kH with undetectable nutrients isn't a great combo, I have to lower my kH to 7.5-8.5 range.

Let's see how all of it turns out.

sergebmw2 · Nov 6, 2018

I see your temp is a bit high.. at least for my liking. I run my tank at 78.8 keeps everything happy.

sikorskys · Nov 6, 2018

sergebmw2 said:
I see your temp is a bit high.. at least for my liking. I run my tank at 78.8 keeps everything happy.

My goal was actually 80.6, too lazy to adjust my jagers

The fact is... I don't really have any legit arguments for both values. Its looks more like personal preference for me. Things go a bit faster at 82.4F and that's it, right? The main reason I haven't adjusted my heaters yet is because I don't actually know why it should be done. What's the point? What are advantages of doing so?

sergebmw2 · Nov 6, 2018

In a closed system, there may be excess metabolic wastes to deal with. If these excess wastes are not removed properly, with high tank temperatures this may cause problems like uncontrollable algae blooms.
If you do some chemistry warmer water has less oxygenation .

Just my 2 cents in it

sikorskys · Nov 7, 2018

sergebmw2 said:
In a closed system, there may be excess metabolic wastes to deal with. If these excess wastes are not removed properly, with high tank temperatures this may cause problems like uncontrollable algae blooms.

This is true for any reef-compatible temp, actually.

sergebmw2 said:
If you do some chemistry warmer water has less oxygenation .

Yes, but "less" doesn't automatically means "insufficient". Tropical fish and corals, they should be fine with tropical temperatures, I guess

sikorskys · Nov 10, 2018

So... No skimmer for a week, no water changes, shortened fuge light-hours, heavy feeding, 4x of recommended dose of AF A+V, HUGE amounts of detritus left in DT.

And I still have undetectable nitrates and something like 0.03 phosphates (Salifert).

Ok, google. Where's my nutrients?

sikorskys · Nov 11, 2018

What a hardcore reefer does when his corals are dying and something is definitely wrong? Buys more corals! Since my corals are dying along with GHA, I guess that's a positive trend

I had a plan to buy some blastos and gonis, but... Well, you know, they weren't available at the moment

So, I've got some sticks

sikorskys · Nov 12, 2018

After two weeks in QT my kole tang is dead

Not sure, what killed him, but most likely it was me and my QT. He was okay two days ago, when I did 70% WC. Really sad.

NY_Caveman · Nov 12, 2018

sikorskys said:
After two weeks in QT my kole tang is dead

Not sure, what killed him, but most likely it was me and my QT. He was okay two days ago, when I did 70% WC. Really sad.

Sorry to hear, brother. Always a bummer.

sikorskys · Nov 14, 2018

Well... I was pretty darn sure I have no nasty pests in my tank. Then, I checked out the back side of my rocks ;Facepalm And if Aiptasias wasn't enough, I've found lots of bristle worms under the rocks ;Facepalm ;Facepalm

I know that bristle worms are fine and inevitable, they are scavengers bla-bla-bla... I just don't like them

count krunk · Nov 14, 2018

impossible to have a reef tank w/o bristle worms. They are beneficial.

sikorskys · Nov 14, 2018

yungreefer2410 said:
They are beneficial.

And ugly

sikorskys · Nov 17, 2018

Two weeks w/o skimmer. Still zero nutrients.

GHA is almost gone. Corals are pale, no growth, poor PE. Seeing some cyano, due to AF Energy + Vitality overdosing. Newly added acros looks like... newly added acros

No PE, zero growth.

Have no idea what to do, actually. If I were a wise man, I would just wait. But I'm a reefer

So, need to change something right now

That's why I'm "turning off" chaeto and turning on my Nyos Quantum instead

Don't like having such a great skimmer unused, deliberately losing better gas exchange and mechanical filtration. Too pricey to do nothing

sikorskys · Nov 17, 2018

BTW I've killed aiptasia (visible ones) with lemon juice. There are probably some smaller hiding, so I'm going to buy peppermint shrimp.

sikorskys · Nov 19, 2018

Current FTS.

Thee of four my acros are bleaching, apparently. May be new lights, may be high alk or something else. Anyway, I will do nothing special, just wait.

sikorskys · Nov 21, 2018

Just a fun fact. My tank is covering with pineapple sponges at the moment

They are filter feeders, so must feed on something. Too much organics in the water?

sikorskys · Nov 25, 2018

Current FTS.

Tank is covered in cyano, but it's actually getting better. Corals started to grow immediately after last week changes. Hard to see on photo, but both montis have new growth and all other corals have a bit better PE. Small green acro is alive and growing, three other seems to be dead or close.