Astro's 250 Reefer Mixed Reef Tank

[Astro]

So sorry to hear of the pipe fish's leap! Your tank build seems to be going great though. I wish I could get my clowns to host my BTA. Did yours naturally go to it or did you do something to encourage it? I have a similar size build up and running for almost a year - it’s a WB 100.3. I’m also new to hobby so I’ll be following along here!! Good work!

Hey Thank you!! It was kind of funny, I was looking up tutorials, but before I could get the chance they hosted it themselves! I saw the bigger one kind of trying to host out a GSP frag and a couple other places, and one day while playing video games on discord I scream out with joy when I peek over to see one of them inside the nem! The second one slowly started to here and there, for like a couple seconds at a time. But now they basically never leave its side with the exception of being fed. I'll check out your build thread too!

 

[Astro]

@Astro I would be concerned about your clowns. That doesn’t look good. I suspect internal worms. First check out the fish disease forum on this website. I just found out about this product https://apifishcare.com/product/general-cure
You might want to check it out.

I made a thread there https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/clownfish-white-eye.788437/#post-8378758 for white eye, but yeah I should perhaps post about his stomach, I've not heard anything like it.

 

[Astro]

Those are some kind of harmless snails. They are harmless and a sign of a good ecosystem of a saltwater aquarium. Pretty much impossible to eradicate. They come in on frags by the dozens...no need to worry...

Snails?? Interesting, I love snails so I can't wait haha. What kind of snail?

 

[DothanReefer]

Snails?? Interesting, I love snails so I can't wait haha. What kind

Sorry...lol. I mixed up my animals...they are more than likely these, though still harmless

Spirorbid Worms

 

[Astro]

Sorry...lol. I mixed up my animals...they are more than likely these, though still harmless

Spirorbid Worms

oh interesting, so I just leave them?

 

[DothanReefer]

oh interesting, so I just leave them?

You can scrape them off but chances are they'll find their way back. They don't hurt anything as far as I know so I just let them be, other than routine glass cleaning...they are all over my rocks and euphyllia bones too...pretty much anything that stays in the tank, I can find a few on.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Following along! I love that scape!

 

[Rincon_Reefer]

I dig it!
Here is an updated version of mine; lost a couple from really bad aiptasia, and just pulled off some of the hair algae.

Looking good. Halley berry's up front? Here is my build post...finally: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/h...-redsea-reefer-250-build.795187/#post-8462087

 

[Rincon_Reefer]

I have been feeling pretty good about my copepod population so I bit the bullet and got a Mandarin fish and a dragon face pipe fish. Both were appearing to be eating and doing well. However unfortunately this morning I woke up to find the pipe fish laying a meter from the tank on the ground I'm not sure what made him jump, how he could even jump so far with such a little fin, and how he jumped through my red sea lid (he'd fit, just need perfect accuracy).

In other news, I found this absolute unit of a bristle worm that's maybe 4" long. I last saw a bristle worm in my GSP but was easily half the diameter and max 2". I left him in there since I assume its fine.

Lastly, I'm unsure if I'm overfeeding or if there's genuinely something wrong with my clowns due to the size of their stomachs being quite bloated. I've cut back feeding and it has shrunk down.

Anddd here's just cute pics of them:

Awesome photos with the dslr. That is something I am working on myself. I think I need the light sup and less blue. Could your clown be preggo? I have never seen a pregnant clown, but it sure looks like pregnant bass I have seen.

 

[Astro]

Can anyone offer me some advice? I have constantly been at 0 nitrates and phosphates for months. I started getting this really gnarly algae and I've been cleaning it off my corals as it covers everything in tank, only to find the next day its covered them again. I went to LFS and he said it was cyano and told me to dose nitrate and use bio s and NP pro from Aquaforest. It's been two days of it, and still really intense stuff that's suffocating the pumps I have as well. I'm really lost for what I should be doing, or if it is even Cyano (watched videos explaining cyano is from high nitrates ???)

Here are pictures that may help illustrate what I'm experiencing.

Spoiler: images

Note, that is after a single day of it being cleaned off the surfaces.

Today I will be attempting a 20G water change in which I will try and blow up off rocks and vacuum the substrate in hopes to get as much as I can. As well continue dosing nitrate, bio s, and the other one in hopes to raise nitrate and nitrifying bacteria.

For filtration I have just a sock and a cup full of carbon, and I have chaeto in refugium with light on 6 hours a day to try and reduce its growth. I have a skimmer but I have left it off from the advice of LFS.

Would anyone have any other advice? Any and all help is appreciated even just letting me know if I'm doing this right, as I am a noob hobbyist.

Thanks! And I'll be posting much delayed updates shortly!

Edit: Also what is maximum I be raising nitrate by at a time? Bottle says calculation is (total volume) * (# ppm nitrates I want) * .1261 = amount of ml to add.
However 315ml of this stuff is a lot to throw in all at once I'd imagine and I'm afraid it would shock them. I added in 10ml both days to increase it, and just did test and its 0.00..... lol

temp: 77
salinity: 34.1
Alk: 10.4
ca: 440
mg: 1900
nitrate/ammonia/nitrite/phosphate: all 0

I have aprox 10-12" worth of fish
I have aprox 10-15 snails, 1 urchin, 2 hermit crabs
I have finger leather coral, acro frags, monti acro frag, anemone (who has not been happy in the slightest), zoa frags, and favias. My GSP is also covered in it a lot.

 

[kartrsu]

Can anyone offer me some advice? I have constantly been at 0 nitrates and phosphates for months. I started getting this really gnarly algae and I've been cleaning it off my corals as it covers everything in tank, only to find the next day its covered them again. I went to LFS and he said it was cyano and told me to dose nitrate and use bio s and NP pro from Aquaforest. It's been two days of it, and still really intense stuff that's suffocating the pumps I have as well. I'm really lost for what I should be doing, or if it is even Cyano (watched videos explaining cyano is from high nitrates ???)

Here are pictures that may help illustrate what I'm experiencing.

Spoiler: images

Note, that is after a single day of it being cleaned off the surfaces.

Today I will be attempting a 20G water change in which I will try and blow up off rocks and vacuum the substrate in hopes to get as much as I can. As well continue dosing nitrate, bio s, and the other one in hopes to raise nitrate and nitrifying bacteria.

For filtration I have just a sock and a cup full of carbon, and I have chaeto in refugium with light on 6 hours a day to try and reduce its growth. I have a skimmer but I have left it off from the advice of LFS.

Would anyone have any other advice? Any and all help is appreciated even just letting me know if I'm doing this right, as I am a noob hobbyist.

Thanks! And I'll be posting much delayed updates shortly!

Edit: Also what is maximum I be raising nitrate by at a time? Bottle says calculation is (total volume) * (# ppm nitrates I want) * .1261 = amount of ml to add.
However 315ml of this stuff is a lot to throw in all at once I'd imagine and I'm afraid it would shock them. I added in 10ml both days to increase it, and just did test and its 0.00..... lol

temp: 77
salinity: 34.1
Alk: 10.4
ca: 440
mg: 1900
nitrate/ammonia/nitrite/phosphate: all 0

I have aprox 10-12" worth of fish
I have aprox 10-15 snails, 1 urchin, 2 hermit crabs
I have finger leather coral, acro frags, monti acro frag, anemone (who has not been happy in the slightest), zoa frags, and favias. My GSP is also covered in it a lot.

From the looks of the algae, it looks to be dinos. They thrive in nutrient deprived environments as other microalgae cannot compete. Depending on the strain of dinos you have, the effects and treatment are different. Some dinos are capable of secreting toxins that are really bad for corals / fish, so worthwhile to get on it as soon as you can.

Judging by where the dinos are growing (powerheads, rocks, almost every surface), I would venture to say it is likely ostreopsis dinos, which is the ultimate baddie. Without a microscope it is hard to confirm, but they tend to move into the water column by night, so if you see the algae growth loosen up as lights dim or are off, then it's likely ostreopsis dinos.

Raising nutrients is a start, you should target 0.1 phosphate and 10ppm nitrate to boost growth of other algae to compete with dinos. In my experience, this is a good long-term solution, but in the near-term it will definitely fuel the dinos since there is simply less microalgae to compete with it. The most effective method of dealing with this if it is truly ostreopsis is to run an appropriate sized UV sterilizer in the tank. Because ostreo goes into the water column, a UV sterilizer kills them at night when the lights are out. Combine that with daily manual removal you can win.

It is generally recommended to not do water changes as you get this under control. Replenishing elements will make them more resilient. For manual removal, I would siphon as much as you can through a 10 micron sock and return the water back to the aquarium. Cut back on the lighting in the refugium, you don't want to be stripping nutrients right now. Keep the skimmer off. Feed your fish heavily and run massive amounts of chemical filtration to absorb the toxins. Inverts that eat this thing will probably die, so expect some die off if it isn't controlled.

When I needed to up nitrates and phosphates, I used brightwell's neophos and neonitro to boost those levels.

Get a microscope and take some photos or videos. Best way to know to know what you're dealing with.

Good luck! Reply if you need more help!

 

[Flameback Pair]

Can anyone offer me some advice? I have constantly been at 0 nitrates and phosphates for months. I started getting this really gnarly algae and I've been cleaning it off my corals as it covers everything in tank, only to find the next day its covered them again. I went to LFS and he said it was cyano and told me to dose nitrate and use bio s and NP pro from Aquaforest. It's been two days of it, and still really intense stuff that's suffocating the pumps I have as well. I'm really lost for what I should be doing, or if it is even Cyano (watched videos explaining cyano is from high nitrates ???)

Here are pictures that may help illustrate what I'm experiencing.

Spoiler: images

Note, that is after a single day of it being cleaned off the surfaces.

Today I will be attempting a 20G water change in which I will try and blow up off rocks and vacuum the substrate in hopes to get as much as I can. As well continue dosing nitrate, bio s, and the other one in hopes to raise nitrate and nitrifying bacteria.

For filtration I have just a sock and a cup full of carbon, and I have chaeto in refugium with light on 6 hours a day to try and reduce its growth. I have a skimmer but I have left it off from the advice of LFS.

Would anyone have any other advice? Any and all help is appreciated even just letting me know if I'm doing this right, as I am a noob hobbyist.

Thanks! And I'll be posting much delayed updates shortly!

Edit: Also what is maximum I be raising nitrate by at a time? Bottle says calculation is (total volume) * (# ppm nitrates I want) * .1261 = amount of ml to add.
However 315ml of this stuff is a lot to throw in all at once I'd imagine and I'm afraid it would shock them. I added in 10ml both days to increase it, and just did test and its 0.00..... lol

temp: 77
salinity: 34.1
Alk: 10.4
ca: 440
mg: 1900
nitrate/ammonia/nitrite/phosphate: all 0

I have aprox 10-12" worth of fish
I have aprox 10-15 snails, 1 urchin, 2 hermit crabs
I have finger leather coral, acro frags, monti acro frag, anemone (who has not been happy in the slightest), zoa frags, and favias. My GSP is also covered in it a lot.

@Astro before doing anything I would confirm if you have Dinoflagellates or not. Buying a UV sterilizer or microscope is not necessarily needed as they are expensive and should be purchased as a last resort, especially the microscope. Do you have a veterinarian? I get syringes from my veterinarian he charges me 0.25 per syringe (I also have cattle.) The reason I ask is they can be a reefer's best friend and they all have powerful microscopes that some would be willing to use for you for a nominal fee and the some probably wouldn't charge you anything.

 

[Astro]

From the looks of the algae, it looks to be dinos. They thrive in nutrient deprived environments as other microalgae cannot compete. Depending on the strain of dinos you have, the effects and treatment are different. Some dinos are capable of secreting toxins that are really bad for corals / fish, so worthwhile to get on it as soon as you can.

Judging by where the dinos are growing (powerheads, rocks, almost every surface), I would venture to say it is likely ostreopsis dinos, which is the ultimate baddie. Without a microscope it is hard to confirm, but they tend to move into the water column by night, so if you see the algae growth loosen up as lights dim or are off, then it's likely ostreopsis dinos.

Raising nutrients is a start, you should target 0.1 phosphate and 10ppm nitrate to boost growth of other algae to compete with dinos. In my experience, this is a good long-term solution, but in the near-term it will definitely fuel the dinos since there is simply less microalgae to compete with it. The most effective method of dealing with this if it is truly ostreopsis is to run an appropriate sized UV sterilizer in the tank. Because ostreo goes into the water column, a UV sterilizer kills them at night when the lights are out. Combine that with daily manual removal you can win.

It is generally recommended to not do water changes as you get this under control. Replenishing elements will make them more resilient. For manual removal, I would siphon as much as you can through a 10 micron sock and return the water back to the aquarium. Cut back on the lighting in the refugium, you don't want to be stripping nutrients right now. Keep the skimmer off. Feed your fish heavily and run massive amounts of chemical filtration to absorb the toxins. Inverts that eat this thing will probably die, so expect some die off if it isn't controlled.

When I needed to up nitrates and phosphates, I used brightwell's neophos and neonitro to boost those levels.

Get a microscope and take some photos or videos. Best way to know to know what you're dealing with.

Good luck! Reply if you need more help!

Thank you! I got a UV Sterilizer today and just installed it. Hopefully it works well. Additionally I think brightwells neonitro is what I'm currently using as well. I couldn't find any phosphate boosters unfortunately. At what point should I start water changes again? It's actually been a while since I've done one which is why I thought it would help. I think it is ostreo as well; in the morning it looks almost fine, and by noon the entire tank is covered. I placed a blanket and blacked it out for a couple hours and drastically improved. Hopefully it will soon be the last of it!

 

[Astro]

@Astro before doing anything I would confirm if you have Dinoflagellates or not. Buying a UV sterilizer or microscope is not necessarily needed as they are expensive and should be purchased as a last resort, especially the microscope. Do you have a veterinarian? I get syringes from my veterinarian he charges me 0.25 per syringe (I also have cattle.) The reason I ask is they can be a reefer's best friend and they all have powerful microscopes that some would be willing to use for you for a nominal fee and the some probably wouldn't charge you anything.

I think I will invest in a microscope honestly, I looked on amazno and had no idea they were that cheap! I've actually never even been to a vet before so I'm not sure about that, but I'll do some googling and calling because that would be really cool to tell for sure with a microscope haha.

 

[kartrsu]

Thank you! I got a UV Sterilizer today and just installed it. Hopefully it works well. Additionally I think brightwells neonitro is what I'm currently using as well. I couldn't find any phosphate boosters unfortunately. At what point should I start water changes again? It's actually been a while since I've done one which is why I thought it would help. I think it is ostreo as well; in the morning it looks almost fine, and by noon the entire tank is covered. I placed a blanket and blacked it out for a couple hours and drastically improved. Hopefully it will soon be the last of it!

I would probably start water changes no sooner than 2 weeks after dinos eradicated. If you are blacking out the tank and it goes away, pretty sure it’s ostreo. Either way, it’s a good sign, cause it will leave the water and get killed by UV. In fact, you can blackout and run UV, gets the job done a lot faster.

If you have amazon, they sell neophos on it. For nitrate or phosphate dosing, I follow the instructions on the bottle, but first I test to make sure I know how much to dose.

 

[Astro]

I would probably start water changes no sooner than 2 weeks after dinos eradicated. If you are blacking out the tank and it goes away, pretty sure it’s ostreo. Either way, it’s a good sign, cause it will leave the water and get killed by UV. In fact, you can blackout and run UV, gets the job done a lot faster.

If you have amazon, they sell neophos on it. For nitrate or phosphate dosing, I follow the instructions on the bottle, but first I test to make sure I know how much to dose.

Should I just dose from 0.00 to 10.00? I feel thats a massive jump

 

[Astro]

Installed a coralife turbo twist 3x with a Syncra 185 gph, so I hope its a good enough flow for it too. It says 55gph for parasites, 121 gph for algae, and 253 gph for bacteria. I think it comes to like 12.5-15k UVC Energy (?? whatever this is) sec/cm^2.

 

[kartrsu]

Should I just dose from 0.00 to 10.00? I feel thats a massive jump

I’ve done pretty massive jumps in nitrate with no ill effects. Actually my corals (and algae) appreciated it. If you got acros, probably ramp both phos and nitrate up slower and see how they adjust.

 

[Rincon_Reefer]

From the looks of the algae, it looks to be dinos. They thrive in nutrient deprived environments as other microalgae cannot compete. Depending on the strain of dinos you have, the effects and treatment are different. Some dinos are capable of secreting toxins that are really bad for corals / fish, so worthwhile to get on it as soon as you can.

Judging by where the dinos are growing (powerheads, rocks, almost every surface), I would venture to say it is likely ostreopsis dinos, which is the ultimate baddie. Without a microscope it is hard to confirm, but they tend to move into the water column by night, so if you see the algae growth loosen up as lights dim or are off, then it's likely ostreopsis dinos.

Raising nutrients is a start, you should target 0.1 phosphate and 10ppm nitrate to boost growth of other algae to compete with dinos. In my experience, this is a good long-term solution, but in the near-term it will definitely fuel the dinos since there is simply less microalgae to compete with it. The most effective method of dealing with this if it is truly ostreopsis is to run an appropriate sized UV sterilizer in the tank. Because ostreo goes into the water column, a UV sterilizer kills them at night when the lights are out. Combine that with daily manual removal you can win.

It is generally recommended to not do water changes as you get this under control. Replenishing elements will make them more resilient. For manual removal, I would siphon as much as you can through a 10 micron sock and return the water back to the aquarium. Cut back on the lighting in the refugium, you don't want to be stripping nutrients right now. Keep the skimmer off. Feed your fish heavily and run massive amounts of chemical filtration to absorb the toxins. Inverts that eat this thing will probably die, so expect some die off if it isn't controlled.

When I needed to up nitrates and phosphates, I used brightwell's neophos and neonitro to boost those levels.

Get a microscope and take some photos or videos. Best way to know to know what you're dealing with.

Good luck! Reply if you need more help!

I haven't run into those, but this is great info to know!

 

[kartrsu]

I haven't run into those, but this is great info to know!

Lucky you! Hope you don’t have to battle them.

I have run into most types of algae outbreaks unfortunately because I started with dry rock. Unfortunate consequence without biodiversity, but I preferred the “clean” route vs trying to rid nuisance stuff later.