City's 15 gallon Column NANO reef build

[Dj City]

I should be in bed sleeping but here i am reading all 9 pages.. at 1 in the morning. haha
gotta say I love the scape glad you took your time and got it the way you wanted.

fun to watch it all come together!

Thanks for reading and seeing my build.

I am far from done with this build. I appreciate you and everyone that follows along with me through this new tank journey.

 

[Dj City]

I

Hi, its a Splendid dottyback (Manonichthys splendens).
They are super aggressive, so have a eye on him.

It is a splendid doddyback.
I got a $50 fish for $5. Goody for me.

He's tiny so I hope I won't run into too much aggression from him.
Time will tell.
I hope I will be able to keep him because getting him out the tank will be a nightmare and a half.

 

[Dj City]

Bad news.

I pulled a coral out the tank to pluck a bit of algae off it. I did not know that my peppermint shrimp was underneath. He jumped or fell off and landed on the carpet.

I picked him up and dropped him back into the tank but he did not make it.

Time for a new peppermint shrimp.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Bad news.

I pulled a coal out the tank to pluck a bit of algae off it. I did not know that my peppermint shrimp was underneath. He jumped or fell off and landed on the carpet.

I picked him up and dropped him back into the tank but he did not make it.

Time for a new peppermint shrimp.

That is crappy. Mine would always hide under rocks also. Good luck little fellow!

 

[Dj City]

New friends

Crappy pics but you get the idea.
We are moving right along.

 

[Dj City]

Look who decided to get comfortable and come out...

 

[Dj City]

On another sour note, this tank did not go through a bad "ugly" stage but it has developed this...

Can anyone tell me what this is and how I can fight it?

 

[Dj City]

New additions to the system...

Aqueon Quietflow AT-40 internal filter in the display.

I needed more flow and I wanted mechanical filtration. I have both with the Quietflow AT-40.
As I scrub the rocks and agitate the sandbed to kick up and dislodge the algae and detritus, the Quietflow should capture a good amount of it.
I got the idea to add it as I was cleaning out the fuge.

My chaeto was not doing well at all. I don't know why but it was breaking apart and getting mushy.
I pulled it out and cleaned the fuge. There was a lot of dead chaeto and an awful lot of detritus. This may have been feeding this brown stringy algae I have going on in the display.
I had a Quietflow AT-15 laying around so I put it in the fuge to capture the dead and dying chaeto and all the detritus.
It worked great!
It got me to thinking that maybe I should leave it in there to capture the detritus so it doesn't settle into the seachem matrix.
So far, it seems to be a good idea.

I purchased the Quietflow AT-40 to do the same in the display.
Im waiting for it to break in so it can stop making microbubbles.

I went one step further and added a Topfin 20gal internal filter that I had laying around to my saltwater holding tank. This way, anything that might be in there can go into the filter and the carbon can pre condition the water before it goes into the display.

All filters have carbon and pollyfil.
Maintaining them should be very easy.

Im trying to get rid of the algae by getting rid of the waste that the water changes are not catching.

Does anyone see and problems with this st up that I may not be seeing?

 

[Dj City]

I am officially done with midas blennies for the foreseeable future.

My 2nd midas blenny died. I came home from work to find him stuck on the circulation pump dead as he could be.

I can't seem to get them to eat in my tank.

Im bummed over this but I will not get another one for quie a while if ever again.

Everything else is thriving.

 

[Dj City]

Besides this algae outbreak, everything seems to be going well.
The outbreak has me worried though.

I started another thread in the hopes of finding out exactly what I'm dealing with and how to get ahead of it.

Im not worried yet but I am concerned.

 

[Dj City]

I may need to start dosing 2 part. I was not expecting that so early in this tanks life.
I thought the automatic water changes would take care of it but maybe not.

Nitrate is higher than I'm happy with. Calcium is way lower than I found like and dkh is low too.

Time to make a few decisions.

 

[Dj City]

Right now, if not for bad luck I would have none.

My beautiful bta decided to try to walk around. He wound up on the nanostream powerhead.

I just came home from work, looked at the tank and said what the heck?!?
I could not see through the water. I turned the light on and saw how cloudy it was.
I saw parts of the bta stuck in the vents of the powerhead.
I saw my skimmer overflowing.

Im doing a massive water change right now and trying to pry the rest of the bta off the powerhead.

This is more what I expected to come home to.

I've kept bta's for years and never had one get caught in a powerhead (till now)

Im at this moment trying to save the rest of the tank.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Right now, of not for bad luck I would have none.

My beautiful bta decided to try to walk around. He wound up on the nanostream powerhead.

I just came home from work, looked at the tank and said what the heck?!?
I could not see through the water. I turned the light on and saw how cloudy it was.
I saw parts of the bta stuck in the vents of the powerhead.
I saw my skimmer overflowing.

Im doing a massive water change right now and trying to pry the rest of the bta off the powerhead.

This is more what I expected to come home to.

I've kept bta's for years and never had one get caught in a powerhead (till now)

Im at this moment trying to save the rest of the tank.

Ugh, that is crappy. I worry about this all the time. Running carbon would help too if you do not regularly. Good luck!

 

[Michael Naegeli]

New friends

Crappy pics but you get the idea.
We are moving right along.

Love the Midas Blennie. His tail is perfect. U know if it’s an African?? Love me some Midas

 

[Michael Naegeli]

Dang Bro. Huge water change quick. Ugh. Nightmare!! Good luck

 

[Dj City]

I'm going to double the purigen I'm running along with a healthy dose of carbon.

This SUCKS!

 

[Dj City]

I've changed about 90% of the water and will change out more when I'm done.

 

[Dj City]

Im still working on the tank. Im refilling the saltwater holding tank. That's where I got the water for the water change.

I SHOULD BE IN BED SNORING RIGHT NOW!
But noooooooooo.
My bta committed suicide and tried to take the tank with him.
Uuuugh!

 

[Dj City]

Im trying to look on the bright side.

I got to scrub the rocks and hit them with some peroxide in an attempt to rid the tank of that stringy, slimy algae. (If its algae at all)

I also get to raise the alk and calcium because I did a 95% water change. Both were a bit low when I tested yesterday.

I can plan to put coral in the spot the bta was in.
My clowns did not care about the bta at all! Showed absolutely no interest in it.

I can get an anemone my snowflake clowns might actually host.


The possibilities are endless. (Sarcasm)

 

[Dj City]

I've had another death. Hopefully it's only one.

Woke up this morning and my cleaner shrimp was dead. Stuck in the powerhead.

I say hopefully it's only one because I have not seen my clown goby.
Im hoping he's just hiding somewhere.