Adventures in keeping a sps reef

[BAMatter]

Ya know, I was thinking- you should try to reach out to someone like Dr Tim’s. I’m sure they’d help go over your situation and make some recommendations on how their different bacteria may be able to help you out with the algae situation… wouldn’t hurt to fire off an email or send a message on Instagram or something…

 

[Llorgon]

Ya know, I was thinking- you should try to reach out to someone like Dr Tim’s. I’m sure they’d help go over your situation and make some recommendations on how their different bacteria may be able to help you out with the algae situation… wouldn’t hurt to fire off an email or send a message on Instagram or something…

Hmm. That might not be a bad idea. I would have to start an instagram account, but it's worth a shot.

I know the guy that has the Reef Dudes youtube channel is local, I could probably talk to him as well. I did try talking to the LFS guy, his only advice was restart something is off....

It's hard to tell how much progress I am actually making. The rock and a bit I have cleaned off, with the exception of the nooks and cracks I can't get into is staying algae free for the most part. I can't quite leave it 100% alone yet, but it's getting there. Last week I cleaned off the back wall of algae. Some has grown back, but a decent chunk is still algae free. Again I can't be hands off on it yet, but with pulling a couple times a week it's not bad. However, in the last week the one side of the glass has gone from patches here and there to 100% covered in algae. So it seems like things are just moving around at this point.

Maybe I just need to do a big algae clean/water change and throw in as many snails as I can get my hands on.

Urchin won't be coming until second week of January when they resume shipping.

 

[BAMatter]

Hmm. That might not be a bad idea. I would have to start an instagram account, but it's worth a shot.

I know the guy that has the Reef Dudes youtube channel is local, I could probably talk to him as well. I did try talking to the LFS guy, his only advice was restart something is off....

It's hard to tell how much progress I am actually making. The rock and a bit I have cleaned off, with the exception of the nooks and cracks I can't get into is staying algae free for the most part. I can't quite leave it 100% alone yet, but it's getting there. Last week I cleaned off the back wall of algae. Some has grown back, but a decent chunk is still algae free. Again I can't be hands off on it yet, but with pulling a couple times a week it's not bad. However, in the last week the one side of the glass has gone from patches here and there to 100% covered in algae. So it seems like things are just moving around at this point.

Maybe I just need to do a big algae clean/water change and throw in as many snails as I can get my hands on.

Urchin won't be coming until second week of January when they resume shipping.

I’d guess the growth in different spots is from flow pattern change. A reboot won’t really do anything if you don’t find the underlying issue. Im in the same thinking as him with something being off. What’s your water source? Public, well, etc… if public was there a possible shift in how the treatment plant handles things (ie chlorine vs chloramines)? Any luck sending out an ICP-DOC? This will be the best way to get a reading that your test kits won’t pick up on…

 

[Llorgon]

I’d guess the growth in different spots is from flow pattern change. A reboot won’t really do anything if you don’t find the underlying issue. Im in the same thinking as him with something being off. What’s your water source? Public, well, etc… if public was there a possible shift in how the treatment plant handles things (ie chlorine vs chloramines)? Any luck sending out an ICP-DOC? This will be the best way to get a reading that your test kits won’t pick up on…

It very well could be the flow changes.

Water source is public and they use chlorine. So it should be fine with the ro/di unit.

ICP-DOC test is on it's way. Not sure when it will get here though.

If it was the water source it would explain why both my tanks went sideways around the same time. But from everything I can tell, no changes have been made to their water treatment. At least the 25g will be easier to restart...

 

[Llorgon]

Some good news and bad news for the tank.



Good news: a few of the remaining euphyllia have been looking a bit better the last couple of days.



Bad news: when trying to clean around the frags I lost 3 heads of euphyllia. Pretty much anything I moved immediately had the remaining polyb bail. The large euphyllia is also completely gone now. I'll remove the Skelton tonight when all the little snails that hang out under it are out and about.

With my main place that I order snails from not shipping until mid Jan, I'm having a hard time finding cuc. I'm trying to find more local sources to save on shipping. For example with shipping, a tuxedo urchin would be $100... Or if I wait until mid Jan, $40 ish with shipping.

As suggested, I reached out to Dr Tim on Instagram, remains to be seen if I will hear back. ICP doc test has shipped so should be here soon ish.

 

[BAMatter]

I tried going through this thread in its entirety but got sidetracked… from what I read, I don’t know if they were covered in the 2nd half of the thread or not-

1) did you ever test your freshly made salt water for NO3 and PO4?

2) what RODI unit do you use, how many stages is it, and do you have an inline TDS meter?

3) are you still adding PO4 to your ATO water?

4) is your skimmer producing good skimmate? Nice and dark? How often do you need to empty the cup?

5) The Varios 4 may be underpowered for a 75 gallon. Is it turned all the way up? Any idea on hog through your sump?

 

[Llorgon]

I tried going through this thread in its entirety but got sidetracked… from what I read, I don’t know if they were covered in the 2nd half of the thread or not-

1) did you ever test your freshly made salt water for NO3 and PO4?

I have, but quite awhile ago. Haven't tested recently. It was at 0 for both last I checked.

2) what RODI unit do you use, how many stages is it, and do you have an inline TDS meter?

The RODI unit is a 4 stage. I think it's reef crest or something like that. It doesn't have the inline TDS meter, I just use a handheld one.

3) are you still adding PO4 to your ATO water?

Nope, I only do that if I am going to be out of town for a few days. The live phyto and food seem to keep things relatively stable.

4) is your skimmer producing good skimmate? Nice and dark? How often do you need to empty the cup?

I empty it about once or twice a week. I turn it off for a few hours a day after adding the live phyto.

5) The Varios 4 may be underpowered for a 75 gallon. Is it turned all the way up? Any idea on hog through your sump?

It's supposed to be good up to 90g, next size up seemed a bit overkill at the time. I have it running at 66% and no idea on the flow through of the sump.

 

[BAMatter]

I have, but quite awhile ago. Haven't tested recently. It was at 0 for both last I checked.

The RODI unit is a 4 stage. I think it's reef crest or something like that. It doesn't have the inline TDS meter, I just use a handheld one.

Nope, I only do that if I am going to be out of town for a few days. The live phyto and food seem to keep things relatively stable.

I empty it about once or twice a week. I turn it off for a few hours a day after adding the live phyto.

It's supposed to be good up to 90g, next size up seemed a bit overkill at the time. I have it running at 66% and no idea on the flow through of the sump.

Only thing that jumps out is the pump. It’s rated for 1050gph, and that’s at 0’ of head. Say you’re pushing it up 4’, it drops to around 700ish gph according to their chart. Now you need to factor in and elbows and bends, and it will knock it down even more, and you’re only running at 66%. I’d be willing to bet you’re only pushing 300ish gph through your sump. I’m a believer in more flow especially with a fuge. Personally, I’d turn that pump to 100% and not look back. I was interested in the Varios pumps and would have gotten the 8 for the same size setup.

 

[Llorgon]

Only thing that jumps out is the pump. It’s rated for 1050gph, and that’s at 0’ of head. Say you’re pushing it up 4’, it drops to around 700ish gph according to their chart. Now you need to factor in and elbows and bends, and it will knock it down even more, and you’re only running at 66%. I’d be willing to bet you’re only pushing 300ish gph through your sump. I’m a believer in more flow especially with a fuge. Personally, I’d turn that pump to 100% and not look back. I was interested in the Varios pumps and would have gotten the 8 for the same size setup.

Good point. I will try upping the pump on water change day this week.

Of course, since I said nutrients have been stable, when I tested this week they were down again...
I did my regular weekly water testing last night. alk, cal and mag have all been steady at 8, 475 and 1480 the last month. But I have noticed something a bit odd with my nutrients, every 4th week I see a big drop. My nitrate generally drops .6-1ppm a week and phosphate has generally been pretty consistent week over week.

Every 4th week I see a large drop in both. Last time nitrate went from 7.2ppm the previous week to 0 and phosphate went from 0.12 to 0.05

This time nitrate went from 7.6 to 0 and phosphate went from 0.16 to 0.003ppm.

I'm bringing both back up again, but it seems odd that it goes in this cycle. I have been feeding the same, do the same size water change on Sunday afternoon.

 

[MTsquared]

Not sure if this has already been mentioned but you may consider adding a Sea Hare. Any time in my tanks when I have had a serious algae outbreak I call around to my LFS and get one. Within a week or two they should be able to eat all the hair algae in the tank - at that point you will want to take it out so it doesn't die in the tank from starvation.

 

[Llorgon]

Not sure if this has already been mentioned but you may consider adding a Sea Hare. Any time in my tanks when I have had a serious algae outbreak I call around to my LFS and get one. Within a week or two they should be able to eat all the hair algae in the tank - at that point you will want to take it out so it doesn't die in the tank from starvation.

I've thought about adding a sea hare, but there isn't really a market here to re-home them. I'd have to order one in and then hope I can find someone else who needs one.

 

[Llorgon]

After a week of having the in laws visiting over Christmas the tank was looking a bit rough.

I also pulled out 4 cups full of algae yesterday. I removed a few more dead skeletons as well. There's a bunch of bristle worms and snails that hide on the underside of the big euphyllia skeleton so I am going to wait until tonight to pull it out.

Yesterday was a big cleaning day. Removed a bunch of algae and did a water change. I also bumped up the return pump speed to 100%.

 

[Llorgon]

After a week of no algae cleaning

 

[Llorgon]

After yesterday's cleaning

 

[Llorgon]

I got my n-doc test kit today. I should be able to send that out sometime this week.

I also noticed that even the aiptasia I have in the tank are pretty unhappy looking. They are all kind of shriveled up.

 

[BAMatter]

If you removed a bunch of algae yesterday, today would have been a good day to test NO3 and PO4. Any way of doing that?

 

[BAMatter]

Man that’s a lot of algae. I’d personally stop dosing any PO4 or NO3 if you still are. How many fish in the system? If you only have a few many add some more livestock and get them fed… poop and bacteria are your friend.

 

[Llorgon]

If you removed a bunch of algae yesterday, today would have been a good day to test NO3 and PO4. Any way of doing that?

I actually did that. Nitrate was 3.3ppm and phosphate was 0.06ppm. that is with occasional nitrate/phosphate dosing and adding live phyto.

Man that’s a lot of algae. I’d personally stop dosing any PO4 or NO3 if you still are. How many fish in the system? If you only have a few many add some more livestock and get them fed… poop and bacteria are your friend.

Ya, way too much algae for a week. I have 5 fish. 2 clowns, 1 yellow Tang, 1 yellow eye kole tang and 1 long nose hawkfish.

I sent the n-doc test out today. dang thing was $23 to send to the east coast...

 

[Llorgon]

I added a couple corals from my 25g to see how they will do in this tank. I'm going to be restarting the now sad 25g and I eventually want to move the few remaining coral to this tank.

 

[Llorgon]

I did a bit more algae removal and water testing tonight. Big 3 are holding steady which is good. I'm still trying to nail down the dosing for nitrate and phosphate.

Alk: 8.0
Cal: 480
Mag: 1455
Nitrate: 9.2
Phosphate: 0.08

Alk, cal and mag have been steady for about 2 months now. Before that, I was getting some variations in mag and cal of about 5-10ppm.

The two corals I put in the tank this weekend are still looking good and my montipora has regained it's green colour. Unfortunately with the good there is the bad another one of the euphyllia frags had all three heads bail out yesterday.