Back in again. 75g sps build thread

[Reef Nutrition]

Hey thanks! Love your products. Wish my LFS would stock your live Apex pods.

We are working on making them available in all of our retail stores. Thanks for mentioning that product; it's a good one.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

We are working on making them available in all of our retail stores. Thanks for mentioning that product; it's a good one.

Make sure Aquarium Arts and Arizona Reef Monsters in Mesa Arizona get some. They both carry most of your other products but not the Apex Pods.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Some pics from today of the tank, new corals and dinos. My UV should be here Wednesday and will be put to use right away. I just dosed 1/2 cup of Fritz bacteria as well.

 

[ScottB]

I just responded to your thread in the main dino page. Am I recalling correctly that you stripped your sandbed because of amphid dinos?

Amphids aren't going to kill any corals or inverts -- they aren't toxic. So don't sweat this that much. They are hard to remove as they don't release into the water like the others do. You can manual blow them into the water now that sand is gone. Some blackouts might help. Several reports that pods will eat amphids. And dosing silicate gives diatoms a chance to outcompete. You already have nutrients up I am sure, so keep them steadily >.1 and 10. This will pass.

Still liking your scape and some great coral additions you have there.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

I just responded to your thread in the main dino page. Am I recalling correctly that you stripped your sandbed because of amphid dinos?

Amphids aren't going to kill any corals or inverts -- they aren't toxic. So don't sweat this that much. They are hard to remove as they don't release into the water like the others do. You can manual blow them into the water now that sand is gone. Some blackouts might help. Several reports that pods will eat amphids. And dosing silicate gives diatoms a chance to outcompete. You already have nutrients up I am sure, so keep them steadily >.1 and 10. This will pass.

Still liking your scape and some great coral additions you have there.

Yep removed all the sand and the tank was clear for about 2 weeks. Dinos killed all my sps I had before but all new sps are ok so far. No3 was 20 pom and po4 0.13 as of yesturday. I will consider silicate dosing read a lot on that working well just did not want to deal with another algae bloom. May do another 3 day black out but it stresses the sps after doing multiple rounds.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

9w uv added to the tank, right after blowing dinos off the corals and rock. I hope and think it's working. Before the UV dinos would reform quickly but this time the areas I blew off stayed clear! I have the tank blacked out right now to get all the dino into the water colum and hopefully kill off some of the hair algae, side effect of high no3 and po4. Also ordered a few other dino fighting tools and needed items. New rodi pre filters and di resin, auto shut off kit, HW Reefer salt no more Fritz for me and a couple 10 micron filter socks. Dinos went right threw my felt socks when I tried to syphon them out, 10 micron will get them. Starting to think more about my water station, planning it out in my mind on rough on paper, ordering parts and getting a list together slowly.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

2 days of black out with the 9w UV running and the tank was clear and clean of visable dinos when I turned the lighting back on. I will see if it stays that way. I hate doing back outs with sps in the tank stresses them out so much. Doing a 15 day acclimation with the Hydras. Got the 10 micron filter socks in today, hopefull I wont need them but I have them now if I do. My LFS got some Talbot and Yellow damsels so I picked up a few, Im always a sucker for cool cheap damsels. QT tank is pretty full right now, 5 damsels lol.

 

[tripdad]

I love my Talbots, very peaceful.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

24 hours after turning the lights back on and the reef is about 90% dino free, at least visably. 2 day black out must have made the dinos move into the water colum and the little 9w UV must be killing them. Pretty pleased so far. Since adding a bunch of new frags they are all doing well, I did loose a frag of pink porci which does suck but not a huge deal. The zoas ane mushrooms are looking really happy. So far so good.... I need to get off my butt and do some syphoning of the bottom and rock as well as test the water. Going to put those 10 micron socks to work. Im still loving the Hydra 32s as well.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Dinos still hanging around, getting better though I think, not getting any worse. Green hair algae has started to become a problem and it has started to consume po4 at a noticeable level, dropped from 0.21 ppm to 0.07 ppm in a week.

 

[tripdad]

New tank uglies can sure be a pain. Hope it turns the corner soon for you.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Not a new tank though, getting close to 2 years. Sure is acting like a new tank the last 9 months.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Just some pics this afternoon. Happy to say that so far all new corals but 1 are doing well, lost the pink porci but was not a grear frag whe I got it. All others are doing well it seems, good PED and holding color. The real improver has to be the duncan coral, it was not opening for weeks and I was worried it would die. Over the last 2 weeks or so it has really be opening up and showing some major improvement. Another coral really coming around is the hammer coral. Over the last week it has been improving in color and really puffing up. I think I am winning agains dinos, while still there the amount has been reducing slowly. Hair algae on the other hand has been spreading over the rock mostly in lower light areas.

 

[Rick5]

Just some pics this afternoon. Happy to say that so far all new corals but 1 are doing well, lost the pink porci but was not a grear frag whe I got it. All others are doing well it seems, good PED and holding color. The real improver has to be the duncan coral, it was not opening for weeks and I was worried it would die. Over the last 2 weeks or so it has really be opening up and showing some major improvement. Another coral really coming around is the hammer coral. Over the last week it has been improving in color and really puffing up. I think I am winning agains dinos, while still there the amount has been reducing slowly.

Very pleased to hear this. Please continue updating us with good news.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Pics from yesturday of the reef. Dinos are hardly visable now in the display, none on the corals. I spotted a few small spots of living montiporas that survived and even hqve some color! They are just little more than specks but it was a good surprise. Corals are looking good and holding color still, even seeing some living polyps on the newer pink porci I thought died. I have 5 new damsels in QT that are nearly ready to go into the tank, I will taken some pics of them to share. I really like damsels as they are cheap, hardy and come in a good variety just need to be be mindful of aggressive types.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Happy corals!

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Zero signs of dinos in the display visably at least. Still some down in the fuge and I may need to move the UV down there. There has been a major improvement overall in the tank. I moved all the fish in QT into the reef today. Total kaos for the first 20 minutes lol.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Everyone was playing nice already when I fed the tank tonight. So much movement and activity.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Little update on my reef. Dinos are visibly gone even from the sump now for about a week. Tank is looking good again and on the up swing. I may remove the UV and see what happens. Hair algae is slowly getting better, not increasing for sure. Chaeto in the sump is growing again but not looking super healthy. I need to clean out my sump, its nasty with GHA. Get4ing green film algae on the glass again, have not had that in a while. Coraline algae has quickly started to spread on the bottom glass. One of the coolest new things as the tank is gaining diversity again is sponge growth is showing up on a rock that once had it but mostly died off. One of the Talbot Damsels died/was killed at some point in the last day or 2. Did not notice any aggression but one did have beaten up tail so it was happening. Corals are doing well for the most part. Bubble gum digi has some polyp loss in the center and may be light related and the ORA Hawkins lost tissue on one small branch. Everything else is looking happy and holding color. I want to send another ICP test in to see how the water is after all this crazyness and no water changes.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Some pics of the corals that at doing poorly. Again I thinknits light related some I may move at least the digi down a bit.

Pics of the little specs that survived