d2mini's "Essential Focus" Mixed Reef Build

[jwarren220]

PIC UPDATE!
Been putting in some new coral.
Labeled at top right as usual.
Enjoy.

Drool!!

 

[d2mini]

Ulva making its way from fuge to display is not cool.
Mental note... No more Chaeto from LFS!

This is NOT what I wanted to spend my Saturday afternoon doing. [emoji35]

 

[olaggie01]

Looks clean again. Nothing in your display would eat the Ulva?

 

[d2mini]

Looks clean again. Nothing in your display would eat the Ulva?

Nope, not that I could see. Everyone is happy picking on the rocks.

So everything is back together and running good.
In the fuge i have a brand new ball of clean Chaeto and the old Codium which has really thick, smooth branches so I was able to make dang sure there was no Ulva attached to it.
Rinsed it off really good in old saltwater and then even scrubbed it down under running tap water.
I have a couple small pieces of the red varieties sitting outside in a bucket with an air pump.
These are harder to tell if the Ulva is 100% gone so I'll let them get some sunlight for several days and see if any Ulva makes an appearance.

The display looks pretty much absent of the stuff. I manually removed what I could from the sand bed. I don't see any on the rocks.
Sometimes I'll see a tiny tiny leaf on the sand bed and remove it. Hopefully it will dissipate to zero permanently.

Meanwhile, I placed another order with Live-Plants (Gulf Coast Ecosystems) for a few extra things. They were out of the blue Hypnea which is a bummer but maybe next time.

I'll post a new fuge pic once I get that stuff.

And my p04 continues to drop... down to .14
So that's the final element that is now down to what I consider perfectly safe levels.
I'll see if it continues to drop to below .1, then probably take the GFO offline and see how it goes.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Ulva making its way from fuge to display is not cool.
Mental note... No more Chaeto from LFS!

This is NOT what I wanted to spend my Saturday afternoon doing. [emoji35]

What was happening?

 

[d2mini]

What was happening?

The ulva in my fuge that came in inadvertently, made it's way to the display tank.
Decided I better nip it in the bud.

 

[mandarin417]

I had a huge outbreak of Ulva shortly after setting up my tank last year. Picked up a sea hare and she wiped it all out in two days and every other stray algae. Passed her along to another person after a couple of weeks.

 

[d2mini]

I had a huge outbreak of Ulva shortly after setting up my tank last year. Picked up a sea hare and she wiped it all out in two days and every other stray algae. Passed her along to another person after a couple of weeks.

Luckily it seems to be gone from the display. And it's gone from the fuge, I made sure of that. haha
I was reluctant to get a sea hare because I didn't want it eating anything else. My tangs are enjoying the rocks as-is.
But good to know that might be a viable option if needed!

 

[mandarin417]

My sea hare was very well behaved but did knock over stuff not glued down. She got big fast though. Only ate algae and nothing else. Of all the pretty stuff I stocked in the tank, my mother in law and 19 year old thought "blob" was the most interesting creature in the tank. The ulva was very aggressive in my tank and I could see it grow an inch or two daily until the sea hare came in.

 

[d2mini]

My sea hare was very well behaved but did knock over stuff not glued down. She got big fast though. Only ate algae and nothing else. Of all the pretty stuff I stocked in the tank, my mother in law and 19 year old thought "blob" was the most interesting creature in the tank. The ulva was very aggressive in my tank and I could see it grow an inch or two daily until the sea hare came in.

Yeah, i meant the macros and stuff that I do have on the rock is minimal and good for the tangs. I didn't want to get something that would strip the rock bare unless I really needed to.
The Ulva is pretty aggressive. I saw the way it was taking over my fuge at a rapid pace.
That's why I reacted quickly when I started to see it in the display on the sand bed. Homie don't play dat!

 

[d2mini]

The refugium is back in bidness!
Chaeto went in this Saturday evening and the rest went in tonite.

 

[Antics]

Looking good!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

It's pretty again!

 

[Clayton Jessup]

Looks very good ..

 

[reefwiser]

Will be interesting to see if the other algaes keep up with Chaeto as it grows so fast. The other algaes grow slower and maybe would be better in their own chamber of the sump but under the tank sumps can be limiting that way.

 

[d2mini]

Looking good!

It's pretty again!

Looks very good ..

Thanks, guys!
I also have a little bit of red Gracilaria Hayi still sitting in the bucket outside. It's looking clean so it seems I got rid of any Ulva that was on it.
Same with a small bunch of what I think is red Botryocladia.
I'll toss those into the fuge in another day or so.

Will be interesting to see if the other algaes keep up with Chaeto as it grows so fast. The other algaes grow slower and maybe would be better in their own chamber of the sump but under the tank sumps can be limiting that way.

There's no way any of those will keep up. Nothing beats the growth of Cheato.
That's ok though.

 

[d2mini]

My little monster is back in the fuge, too. He was hiding when I took the earlier pics.
Have another in the display.

 

[nitro]

Sweet set up...

 

[Antics]

Hey Dennis,

I see you're still using a LifeReef skimmer. I read earlier in the thread that you downsized to a 24. How do you like it in your current system? I'm planning to buy a new skimmer soon and I'm interested in comparing LR to BK/Vertex/Nyos etc.

Thanks

 

[d2mini]

Hey Dennis,

I see you're still using a LifeReef skimmer. I read earlier in the thread that you downsized to a 24. How do you like it in your current system? I'm planning to buy a new skimmer soon and I'm interested in comparing LR to BK/Vertex/Nyos etc.

Thanks

Love it. Just like it's bigger brother.
Just as easy to use, skims great. Look at that dark stuff!
That was last night and this morning it had at least 50% more in the cup.
If you get the 24, go for the flange version so if you get a bigger tank in the future you can just get an extension for it.