Big Jon's nano upgrade

[12gallonsofhex]

Just got done with round 2 of tge dino treatment. Big surprise, doesnt work. Still have them coming back. Got some video to post on the fb support page for id, but have not positively identified the type yet. Time to nuke this tank.

 

[Katrina71]

@Mikedawg any ideas here? I know you've battled some uglies

 

[12gallonsofhex]

I came home from a long weekend trip to find that my ato had stopped working at some point. It was just barely starting to suck air, so not terrible. The dinos also decided to take off and grow faster than they ever have. I kalked the heck out of the reef by adding all the topoff that it didnt get, then dosed one-and-only and waste-away along with some vodka. I also dumped some ground up pellet food on the sand bed and fed a double helping of reef chilly. I pulled the chaeto out of the sump and blacked out the tank. I am going to try to dirty up the tank, force an algae bloom, and do a 3 day blackout all at the same time. I've had it with these dinos!

 

[12gallonsofhex]

I dont want to jinx it, but I think this battle with dinos may be over. I had time to finally play around with the Coral Vue lenses I bought 2 months ago.

 

[12gallonsofhex]

I feel comfortable now saying....dinos are gone! (At least as much as they can be)
I am going to do 5 gallon wc once a week for a month. I have not done a wc in probably 3 months because of the battle. My corals look happy and i am happy to be getting back on track.

 

[12gallonsofhex]

Now that the dinos are gone, the cyano attacks! I pulled the chaeto, then nutrients got too high. I did 3 25 percent water changes in 5 days and let it run for a week. Early this week red cyano showed up and is covering half the sandbed. I tested and no3 is 2.5 with po4 @ .5! Phosphate way too put of balance so I ordered phosphate rx on Melevs recommendation. I am currently trying red slime remover but dont know if that will work with PO4 so out of whack.

 

[12gallonsofhex]

Just set up a makeshift phyto culture station in the garage. The temperature fluctuations will be wild, so i put a heater in a container, filled it with water, added an airstone for circulation and put the culture bottles into it. Hoping this simple fix will keep the phyto happy.

 

[Another Newbie Reefer]

Love your thread, I'm following along. I'm playing around with a 10g with a HOB fuge. Like you, I'm having a really tough time keeping my nutrients up. I'm pruning chaeto weekly, feeding heavy, and shortened my fuge light to 4 hours. No dinos yet, fingers crossed. I'm starting to think chaeto shouldn't be used for nano tanks. It's too tough to keep everything consistent.

 

[12gallonsofhex]

Love your thread, I'm following along. I'm playing around with a 10g with a HOB fuge. Like you, I'm having a really tough time keeping my nutrients up. I'm pruning chaeto weekly, feeding heavy, and shortened my fuge light to 4 hours. No dinos yet, fingers crossed. I'm starting to think chaeto shouldn't be used for nano tanks. It's too tough to keep everything consistent.

Thanks for following! I think either I started with chaeto too early, or that like you said its not meant for small tanks. There are some slower growing macros, but I am thinking about building a properly sized algae turf scrubber and adjusting the lighting schedule to have more control over nutrients.

 

[12gallonsofhex]

I thought I lost my watchman goby and pistol shrimp after moving their rock last week. I have not seen either of them since.. until this morning. I woke up to a power outtage and immediately checked on the tank. I was using a flashlight to check on everyone and saw the pair under a rock in the sump! Very glad that they are both okay, but confused as to how they both ended up down there.

 

[12gallonsofhex]

It was a little bit of a rocky start, but I harvested my first round of Phytoplankton today. The awkward setup seems to work well.

 

[12gallonsofhex]

The garage culturing 'system' got bigger this weekend. I added a larger bin and room for 2 pod culturing pitchers. Starting off with one until I get a decent culture to split. The corals seem to like the live phyto. They are opening further on the days I harvest.

 

[Katrina71]

Will you teach me when our new tank is finished?

 

[12gallonsofhex]

Will you teach me when our new tank is finished?

I will tell you what I know. I am very novice to this culturing thing so far, but it seems to be working. Cant wait to see your new build!

 

[12gallonsofhex]

So just when I thought the reef was starting to do better....
I got back from a long weekend trip with the wifey to find cyano and brown algae on the sandbed and the purple stylo has white dying spots and retracted polyps. I think I may have to do a complete teardown and scrub. There is a thread describing the process to rinse the sand and scrub the rocks that is supposed to work without harming the pets. Thankfully the memory of this amazing little town on the Lost Coast of CA offsets the worry of my troubled tank.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Nice hot tub in the room!

 

[12gallonsofhex]

Nice hot tub in the room!

It was pretty awesome to sit in the hot tub with drinks while watching the waves crash on the rocky coast. Best weekend trip I have ever had.

 

[Katrina71]

Alrighty, let's see the tank. What's up with her?

 

[12gallonsofhex]

Alrighty, let's see the tank. What's up with her?

I will take a pic when I get home. Cyano, brown film algae, gha, dying stylo. All from a battle with po4. Trying to treat it with phosphate rx without hitting zero and bringing back the dinos.

 

[12gallonsofhex]

Looks like the cyano and brown film algae are receding. Just doing weekly 5 gallon wc and keeping alk stable. Stopped being frustrated by this tank and just let it do its thing. Hopefully it will work out.