Ale's tax return tank (Red Sea 250)

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Ecoscape Reef Rock
Thanks Ramona :)

Not much to report. Tank quietly ticking along. Ember blenny died before they could ship so waiting on next ones available.

Slowly dialling down tank feeding as the leopard wrasse is looking in good shape. Dino still an issue but slowed. Dosing vinegar daily.

I’ve been feeding corals a couple times a week; need to make a bell for feeding roids to the goni.

Literally just waiting for tank to keep maturing and reducing organically until algae’s/Dino starts to recede.
 
Tidal Gardens
Happy new year!

My tank is now 6 months old :)

Plenty has happened since my last update. All my fish are now here including the ember blenny and a marine betta, which is only about 2-3 inches at the moment. She’s in QT learning to be hand fed.

The Dino outbreak yielded to a red cyano outbreak, which I treated with Chemiclean successfully. Finally have some hair algae - hooray.

Plenty of pink and purple coralline starting to appear - also hooray.

The exquisite wrasse found an exit point in the lid and died on top of the mesh - rip. The only spots open are literally tiny, just ridiculous that one got out.

The leopard wrasse is eating frozen like a champion. My pods populated the refugium and are obviously also doing well in the main tank as the mandarin is looking fatter every day. The leopard still picks at pods but the generous feeding regime has turned it into a hobby more than an obsession.

Pics coming when I have a moment.
 
Been a while between updates!

My tank is a year old now :) I've had some algae problems due to not being regimented enough to do regular changes. I also lost two of my wrasse - the leopard wrasse and the flasher wrasse :(

Thankfully this has been the limit of my problems - until this week, when I am moving the tank to my new home :O

I've got a plan and have done some reading. I have already set up a hotel california in a food safe bucket for the fish, and will be using the move to really get to grips with removing algae and giving the sand bed the extremely thorough clean it needs.

I'm also going to be changing to salt mix from NSW as I will be too far away for deliveries. Fortunately I have an excellent LFS who has already given me the details!
 
Feb 2022 Update: The move went well and the hotel california worked perfectly. The sand bed clean was a lot of work :D Unfortunately after the move the tank was quite unsettled, lost corals, the rock had some algae and lost the leopard wrasse. I know those two statements sound contradictory, but for a first timer moving a tank I think it was a win.

Right now it's been a few months since the move, the tank has settled down - I've basically left it alone and tried to ignore the algae! This week I started clearing tank algae. Touch wood, no sign of dinos or anything else apart from green algae. No aiptasia, bubble algae etc.

Shortly I will be refreshing the CUC, then doing some work on the sump equipment. I need to get a RO unit and once that happens will be converting the tank to salt mix. Then after that I'll look at replacement fish and fresh corals.

I also want to improve my cable management so I think I will screw in an open rack at the top of the cabinet to bundle cables out of the way.
 
Avast
Small update: After a few weeks of dedicated work clearing algae starting to see some good results. Absolutely no sign of dinos or anything else.

Added some new CUC last week and looks like I need a few more. I picked up a new RO unit and started making salt mixes - first 20% change was last week with another one coming shortly. I'm keeping 250l of RO and then making salt as I go.

Geez got to say the salt manufacturers make it difficult outright lying about the litres you can make from a bucket. They need to stop being ***** about splitting hairs based on 'recommended' salinity levels. If it says REEF on the front of the bucket then publish litres based on reef levels.

Went with Red sea pro salt.

What else? Bought a second hand MP10 to add to the tank so I can change from reef crest to a nice pulse mode, which to me is the most attractive mode for softies.

I noticed some of my rock pieces have degraded in strength so I'll need to triage and putty some back together soon.

I also ordered some more copepods and amphipods for the tank, along with some phyto and some vibrant. The vibrant is to continue to murder the algae, the plan is to dose it at recommended levels for the next couple of months. As I essentially don't have corals in the tank atm, this is my opportunity to really tackle the algae. Vibrant is not going to be the primary tool to eliminate the algae - naturally lots of turnover, mechanical removal, blowing off rocks, stirring the sand, and plenty of 20% water changes over the next few weeks, as well as the use of CUC, will do that - but the Vibrant hopefully will help knock things on the head at the same time.
 
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Recommissioned my old 10G nano cube in preparation for QTing some new fish. Later on I'll keep it as a small specimen display tank :)
 
My copepod order arrived and it was delivered to my old address. Got there as soon as I could but the amphis had succumbed to the heat - rip :( What was left of the copepods went into the tank and sump. Not sure if the phyto or the Vibrant is okay from the heat. Will see what the shop says.
 
Tidal Gardens
Picked up the last of my replacement fish at the LFS today. Two flasher wrasse - a filament and a carpenter's, an exquisite wrasse and a blue star leopard wrasse.
 
The blue star leopard wrasse sadly passed, was eating well for a couple of days then went to sand became very spooky and diving at wierd hours. Never saw any harassment and the fish are generally chill but putting this down to not coping with the new tank mates. I did notice a few tail nips on wrasse and the goby but not on the wrasse that passed.

The rest of the wrasse are doing great and the two flasher wrasse are co-habitating really well.

Algae continues to be an issue.

Parameters:

pH 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 30
Phosphate 0
Alk 7.2
Calcium 420

I am starting to dose 2 part with the initial adjustments happening this weekend, aiming for around 8 Alk and 420 Calc for both tanks.

Algae crackdown this weekend also. The first rock is being removed to scrub algae and rinse in tank change water. The sand is also being cleaned. Lighting is going to be reduced to blues only and limited photoperiod. At the same time, I will be resuming vinegar dosing, and I will dose a little flourish to bump up the phosphate to avoid dino.

I will also be adding some corals to help take up nitrates, the tank has been stable for months apart from algae.

Last, my two clowns and then the goby will go into the nano to reduce the number of fish. The rest will be sad, as I will be keeping fish food to an absolute minimum.

If my LFS has one, I'll also pick up an urchin to help chew down the algae.
 
BRS
Massive workday today! Pulled all the rock and scrubbed it clean of algae, rinsed and sprayed liberally with peroxide. Rock looks good and the tank is settling this evening. Parameters look okay, skimmer was going nuts unsuprisingly :D

My nano had a 40% water change and the nem is offended. Checked and alk was a bit low so topped that back up and hopefully we are all good tomorrow morning.

I also caught my other clown and popped her in the nano - yay.
 
The rock ripping was very successful with almost all the hair algae gone! Nitrates stay at 20%.

IMG_1940.jpg

2 part dosing continues in both tanks with good stable looking levels so far. I've also begun vinegar dosing and at low levels so far. I'm going to give it about a month to dial in the 2 part as I increase vinegar dosing. I don't want to chase numbers but if I settle around 10 nitrate I'll be happy there.

Parameters:

pH 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
Phosphate 0.1
Alk 8
Calcium 410
 
Fed a little bit higher this week along with what I assume is the organics dissolving from all the dead material killed on the rocks - nitrates 40 and phosphates 0.25, a little bit of an increase.

Vinegar dosing continues to increase slowly, trying not to chase numbers or react. The tank will settle...

I've amended my light programme because I have montis coming in a couple weeks and want the tank tuned into final lighting configuration that will work for sps. I have a frag of poci that will be my canary before the high end stuff arrives.

Interestingly I tried out an app for PAR readings, designed for plants but light configurations are there for blue/white leds. Obviously its accuracy falls away relatively quickly as the phone goes down into the water (don't look at me that way, of course I sealed the phone!!) due to limitations in the phone's camera however it was definitely a decent reading at the water's surface and emphasised the sharp fall away in PAR between the lights before they intersect.
 
ReefBot Lab, Automated Water Tester
It's been 3 weeks now since I ripped the rocks and I'm feeling very positive about the results. While there is a fine mist of green algae on the rocks, it isn't taking off. There is a little on the sand, which continues to be turned over. The glass needs a heavy clean, that might be this weekend!

Phosphates dropped to 0 and so I've had to dose phosphate for the first time for a while. Continuing to focus on keeping nitrates steady and reducing without algae or dino growth.

The corals look good. I'm hoping to glue them down this weekend. I think once the glass is cleaned it will be time for a photo update!

Current parameters:
pH: 8.3
Nitrate 40
Phosphate 0 (now dosing phosphate to 0.25)
Alk 10.5
Cal 450
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%

  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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