Better than ever after tank crash

[Ezeke1]

The tank ran for around 2 years when it crashed.
I changed out 50% of the water at first and then left it for around 1.5 months.
Didn't touch anything after that except for a slight aquascape and chiselling coral bases off rocks.
I don't do water changes and carbon dose with vodka and the nutrients were left to drop in the fallow period and then I added the frags.
GHA eventually died off (after 2 months or so) after the bound PO4 in the rock became exhausted.
Next up came dino's, Ostreopsis flavour and those were beaten back with the use of Vibrant.
After that I had the odd patch of cyano but that has cleared up and the tank basically runs on autopilot now.

I have to add that I added a filter using crushed coral that runs on a similar principle to the Dutch 'Dymico' system, minus the calcium reactor part of their filter. In this filter that recirculates a part of the tank return water, there is ~60 kg of crushed coral (5-10 mm). Basically water comes in over the top in the middle compartment, gets recirculated around the filter by a small pump in compartment B and then exits through the bottom of compartment C and overflows back into the sump. I filter ~300 L/hour of my tank water this way and I had to stop carbon dosing, turned off my skimmer and I still have to add NO3 in from time to time, that's how efficient it is working for me.
Here is an image of it:

I also made my own calcium reactor that takes care of the big 3 for dosing

Thank you for sharing your unique journey from crash to vitality. Your story is very inspiring.

I noticed that you mentioned the use of vibrant which is something I recently heard about for controlling nuisance algae. Did you use it while you had sps and is it beneficial?

 

[Alexander serrano]

Very nice. My 150 crash I was ready to give up and then my wife gave me a 220 I’m in the proses of getting everything ready. This is an inspiration tank you for sharing.

 

[Freakmachine01]

That is great that everything came back. I just had the same thing happen to me. I just moved and a day after the tank was set up everything dies in it. Now it is time to rebuild. I hope I have the same success as you did.

 

[SuperDragon]

Incredible come back, growth, colors, and thinking outside the box. I keep looking at my tank wondering why it doesn't look like yours. I hope you teach us all your methods very soon. I kind of have a idea of your lighting schedule. Can you link a copy of your Radion schedule?
Keep posting!

 

[mmw64]

August 21st 2017 FTS

That is one beautiful tank!
Good for you for not giving up.

 

[Squamosa]

Can you link a copy of your Radion schedule?

Please, please no...aaargh........I have to go into Ecosmart live ;Wideyed;Yuck

I will try and retrieve it for you

 

[Squamosa]

then my wife gave me a 220

Now there's a thought ;Joyful

 

[Squamosa]

I noticed that you mentioned the use of vibrant which is something I recently heard about for controlling nuisance algae. Did you use it while you had sps and is it beneficial?

I did a lot of research because I was looking to get rid of a particular species of dinoflagellate and it worked for that. However, it also had the benefit of removing what was left of my GHA and also kept the bubble algae at bay.

Many people on the forums report eradication of GHA and other types.
I also found using it in moderation is key, if you dose too much it really messes with the tank biology, food webs and nutrient flows, it might out compete the bacteria you already have in your tank. Dare I say it, the product is probably too good, some thing that is very rare in this hobby, even in today's modern world of technological advancement!

I had all my sps frags in the tank and they did start to 'pale out' after multiple dosings, so moderation is the key as I mentioned above.

I hope this helps

 

[Alexander serrano]

Now there's a thought ;Joyful

She is great working on a new build coming soon

 

[tutmatt3]

Probably the coolest thing I've read to day!
How were things prior crash?

Real curious to what you keep those trace elements at? I saw strontium 10-20, but how about Iron, since you said it was the most important?

And when you say 'you made your own', care to clarify? Would love more info on which test kits / and how you go about dosing those specifics.

 

[h8edpurdie]

This thread is exactly what I've been needing to see. I had a disaster in my 155 gallon bowfront. I wanted to throw in the towel after losing 13 fish and thousands in corals, but the tank was a gift from my father and he's no longer here. One of my fondest memories of him was helping him do water changes when it was his.

So my only surviving fish, a saddle valentini puffer, and 2 hermit crabs are in a 40b while I get things going. I drilled the tank as I was tired of the hang on overflows. Being that the tank is over 15 years old, I decided it was a great time to reseal. That's on hold until next spring so I can water test it outside. It's too cold now to try it.

Excellent work mate.

 

[tutmatt3]

Since reading this thread I have changed my lighting schedule on my programmable black boxes which I customized some Led diodes on to Sawtooth as well. As it's only been about a week, I can't comment on any progress, but I can comment that things didn't react poorly which is a huge win. I also began dosing very small amounts of DIY iron (drugstore tablets recommended from Randy's article), and once again no bad reaction!

Would still love to know more about your diy dosing supplements!

 

[Squamosa]

This green staghorn shows multiple new branches budding out from the the main branch.

Strawberry shortcake colony showing new branches and lovely pink tips.

 

[Bronc]

That stag is gorgeous!!

 

[tigé21v]

It's been a week with no new pictures... Need to post some updates, those weeds of your have probably put on another inch or more of growth!!
I keep forgetting to ask, are you still messing around with the micro/nano bubble thing?

 

[tutmatt3]

Yes more updates!!! haha
I am now using Vibrant myself for what I believe to be dinos. They used to be super bad with my black sand, and since I replaced all that with special grade, they're not as bad, but still there

How often did you dose? Weekly?

 

[tutmatt3]

Looking forward to updates!

I brought strontium up myself. We'll see what happens!
Interestingly enough, it took me 3 (or 4, i forgot) times the dose to get it to stay!
First time, brought it to 10ppm, few days later - 0. Repeated that twice, and now finally it's hanging there.

 

[jairus45]

This green staghorn shows multiple new branches budding out from the the main branch.

Strawberry shortcake colony showing new branches and lovely pink tips.

Bloody hell that ssc looking great

 

[Squamosa]

Yes more updates!!! haha
I am now using Vibrant myself for what I believe to be dinos. They used to be super bad with my black sand, and since I replaced all that with special grade, they're not as bad, but still there

How often did you dose? Weekly?

Initially I did 2 doses (at the strength listed on the label) split apart by 48 hrs and then I dosed every week for 2 weeks. i now only dose 1/2 the amount every 3-4 weeks, that keeps things nice and clean

 

[Squamosa]

A new update.
I moved house a month ago, it was a very hot day (36 degrees C) but it had to be done and the tank was moved on that day too.
Corals were removed from the system in the early morning and placed in large tubs with tank water.
Tank and cabinet including sump was moved about an hour later with corals and fish following.
Water for corals starting going "bad" very quickly and large blooms of bacteria appeared.
All in all, the corals and fish were back in the system together with the live rock after around 4 hours of the move and I replaced half the tank water (that was still fresh) with freshly made ASW, everything looked OK at that stage.
Woke up in the morning with milky colored water (huge bacterial bloom) in the tank, skimmer going crazy and that smell of the water going "off'"!
Contacted a water supplier and within another 4 hours replaced 100% of the water with NSW, this did the job and the tank started its recovery.
All in, I probably lost about 50% of my SPS colonies and only 1 fish, I suspected the fish went and hid inside a piece of rock and never came back out.

The biology has now settled, my coral filter is back on again and was "turbo charged" with vodka dosing for a week, my PO4 also spiked as did my NO3 but are now under control, in fact the values are: NO3= 0.5 ppm and PO4 = 0.028 ppm. Skimmer has been running during this stage. I will shortly turn my skimmer off again.

The NSW we receive is slightly low in magnesium and very low in strontium and all levels were adjusted back to where I want them, accordingly.
Growth has resumed, both in the bases of new frags and in the tips of existing colonies and the colors are rapidly returning. You can still see green tinges in the branches of certain corals due to the spike in nutrients and proliferation of these zooanthellae, in combination with lower light from the move, but this color will disappear and the branches will go whiter.

All in, one heck of a move and my tank is rather small, my physiotherapist thanks me though