JaimeAdams
2500 Club Member
looking really good. I love those cardinals
DansReef's 180 System
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dansreef
Well-Known Member
It has been a couple of months since my last update. The tank is doing pretty well. Nutrients are being kept very low... The Algae Scrubber is doing a nice job of keeping Phosphates to about .02. Nitrates register at zero. I have taken the skimmer completely off line....with the exception of immediately after cleaning the algae scrubber. I will then run it for a couple of days.... My Alk is steady around 8.5-8.8 with Ca at 460. Mg is at 1350 but I don't test that too often. PH stays at about 8.4-8.6 unless I get on a prolonged AC closed house setup. I like to have fresh air in the house and like to have windows wide open when I can. Temp is rock steady at 78.4. Salinity is 1.026.
All in all, the tank is pretty stable. No signs of Dinos which I am extremely thankful for. That said....I am no longer proactively looking for them. I had a spot that was concerning...but it dissipated and has not returned. I have a very small amount of cyno in a couple of spots. With such low nutrients it is in check. I am dosing very small amounts of aminos and trace. Less than 25 ML a week. I am also dosing a small amount of iodine less than 10 ML per week. All of this on a 225 gal total volume....so very small amount. I am also doing 10 gals of water change with Reef Crystals every couple of days. It is easy for me to do right into the basement sump. Also small volumes helps with the stability of the tank....and the parameters.
LPS corals are struggling a bit since the nutrients are so low. They have lost some color. SPS seem to be doing fine... though some of the birds nests have lost color and looked to STN. I just watched and monitored them over the weeks and have seen them come back.
Fish are doing fine. I feed nori to the tangs every morning...along with mysis. I feed more mysis in the afternoon. Occasionally I will throw a pinch of pellets in. I will feed the coral with either Reef roids, Reef chili or another fine particulate food a couple times a week. Generally in the morning before sun up.
My plan is to add some more fish to the tank. I am thinking of adding a Sargassum Trigger and a Mustard Tang and a Convict Tang. Though I am a bit hesitant. My QT capabilities are largely gone with the breakdown of my 72 gal. So... I am hoping to buy high quality specimens from two sources I have been able to trust in providing very healthy and qt'd fish to me thus far. I am also hoping adding them at the same time will prevent bullying from the other fish. This increased bio load hopefully will see a slight rise in nutrients...that I can keep in check.
Now for some pictures. I scrapped down the side glass. It gets covered pretty quickly with coralline algae. I scrape things down every couple of months. These two pictures are from either side.
Then this is a full tank shot.
All in all, the tank is pretty stable. No signs of Dinos which I am extremely thankful for. That said....I am no longer proactively looking for them. I had a spot that was concerning...but it dissipated and has not returned. I have a very small amount of cyno in a couple of spots. With such low nutrients it is in check. I am dosing very small amounts of aminos and trace. Less than 25 ML a week. I am also dosing a small amount of iodine less than 10 ML per week. All of this on a 225 gal total volume....so very small amount. I am also doing 10 gals of water change with Reef Crystals every couple of days. It is easy for me to do right into the basement sump. Also small volumes helps with the stability of the tank....and the parameters.
LPS corals are struggling a bit since the nutrients are so low. They have lost some color. SPS seem to be doing fine... though some of the birds nests have lost color and looked to STN. I just watched and monitored them over the weeks and have seen them come back.
Fish are doing fine. I feed nori to the tangs every morning...along with mysis. I feed more mysis in the afternoon. Occasionally I will throw a pinch of pellets in. I will feed the coral with either Reef roids, Reef chili or another fine particulate food a couple times a week. Generally in the morning before sun up.
My plan is to add some more fish to the tank. I am thinking of adding a Sargassum Trigger and a Mustard Tang and a Convict Tang. Though I am a bit hesitant. My QT capabilities are largely gone with the breakdown of my 72 gal. So... I am hoping to buy high quality specimens from two sources I have been able to trust in providing very healthy and qt'd fish to me thus far. I am also hoping adding them at the same time will prevent bullying from the other fish. This increased bio load hopefully will see a slight rise in nutrients...that I can keep in check.
Now for some pictures. I scrapped down the side glass. It gets covered pretty quickly with coralline algae. I scrape things down every couple of months. These two pictures are from either side.
Then this is a full tank shot.
Daniel@R2R
Living the Reef Life
Looking good!!
OP
OP
dansreef
Well-Known Member
Yikes! I guess the adage is true…. “Time Flies when you are having ….. “ Nah… I won’t go there.
It is hard to believe that it has been three months since my last update. In that time, I am happy to report….no Dinoflagellate outbreaks. To be brutally honest, every day I peer into my tank I worry about those darn things reappearing. I still do a fair amount of sampling materials and placing them under the microscope. Note, I said I haven’t had any outbreaks. They are there, in the tank. I see them under the microscope, but the population is small. Maybe 3-5 in the field of view my microscope. But as far as I can tell… Knock on Wood… I have been able to keep their population in check. To do so… I am allowing things like cyano to grow and be present without the worry. Cyanobacteria is present in my tank. In the past, I may have used a slime remover or some other treatment to rid myself of the cyano…only to leave the door open for the Dino population to explode. I am convinced that by treating for cyano, I am harming other beneficial microfauna and the Dinos can then grow unchecked. So, I am letting the little cyano I have alone. My nutrients are pretty much in check… which brings me to another part of my update.
As I had mentioned in my previous updates, my nutrient levels have historically been pretty low. I run an Algae Scrubber and a Protein Skimmer. This resulted in readings of Zero for nitrates and .00-.02 for Phosphates. My Alkalinity and Calcium are kept stable via dosing. Mg is just stable… it tests out at 1400-1450 pretty routinely. I test them about once a month. My PH does its normal swing day to night and depending if the windows are open or the A/C or Furnace are on…and the temp swings maybe .5-1 degree. All in all, things are very stable. Of course… with such low nutrients, my corals looked like crap. To bring the Nitrates up, I have been feeding my fish and corals like crazy. They are plump and happy. Honestly… I could still triple the amount of food and they would want more. Still, the Nitrates test out at Zero. I thought…well maybe I will get a new test kit as mine was a year old. New test kit, same results.
After some research, I began dosing the solution using the Spectracide Stump Remover. If you want details, do a R2R search. There is a lot there about this. I began slowly dosing this into my tank. At first, I was dosing such a small amount, a bit afraid that a little bit of a “good” thing could throw things amok. I was still not getting any hint of color change in either the Red Sea or Salifert Nitrate kits. So… I slowly upped the dosages. I finally got it to hit .75 -1.0. I would stop and it would slowly fall. I dosed again…this time I stuck with it with some minor maintenance amounts. Still the levels would fall. I kept on dosing and playing with the amounts. I now have it so the Nitrates are right around 2 to 3. As you can guess, I started to see a noticeable difference in my corals. Things like my Rainbow and Sunburst nems that I got from a friend, they started to color up. I started to see color return to the sps I have in the tank. Some of the hammers I have in the tank started to look better. I have an elegance that 6 months ago I thought was all but a goner, that is now looking great. The tank is doing so well, my friend handed over some remnants of sunburst nems he was losing from one of his tanks. They too are starting to bounce back. I have some green and green purple rimmed montis that are almost like “a sparrow in a mine” for me. If their color starts to fade even slightly, then the Nitrates are slipping.
All in all, things are starting to look significantly better. Of course, it is all a balancing act. The struggle is real. But as we close out summer and start spending more time inside, I am happy to say the glass box that I stare into is starting to really take shape….after all these years. Lets hope they stay that way.
In closing, here are a couple of pictures. Sorry, I am not the best photographer.
It is hard to believe that it has been three months since my last update. In that time, I am happy to report….no Dinoflagellate outbreaks. To be brutally honest, every day I peer into my tank I worry about those darn things reappearing. I still do a fair amount of sampling materials and placing them under the microscope. Note, I said I haven’t had any outbreaks. They are there, in the tank. I see them under the microscope, but the population is small. Maybe 3-5 in the field of view my microscope. But as far as I can tell… Knock on Wood… I have been able to keep their population in check. To do so… I am allowing things like cyano to grow and be present without the worry. Cyanobacteria is present in my tank. In the past, I may have used a slime remover or some other treatment to rid myself of the cyano…only to leave the door open for the Dino population to explode. I am convinced that by treating for cyano, I am harming other beneficial microfauna and the Dinos can then grow unchecked. So, I am letting the little cyano I have alone. My nutrients are pretty much in check… which brings me to another part of my update.
As I had mentioned in my previous updates, my nutrient levels have historically been pretty low. I run an Algae Scrubber and a Protein Skimmer. This resulted in readings of Zero for nitrates and .00-.02 for Phosphates. My Alkalinity and Calcium are kept stable via dosing. Mg is just stable… it tests out at 1400-1450 pretty routinely. I test them about once a month. My PH does its normal swing day to night and depending if the windows are open or the A/C or Furnace are on…and the temp swings maybe .5-1 degree. All in all, things are very stable. Of course… with such low nutrients, my corals looked like crap. To bring the Nitrates up, I have been feeding my fish and corals like crazy. They are plump and happy. Honestly… I could still triple the amount of food and they would want more. Still, the Nitrates test out at Zero. I thought…well maybe I will get a new test kit as mine was a year old. New test kit, same results.
After some research, I began dosing the solution using the Spectracide Stump Remover. If you want details, do a R2R search. There is a lot there about this. I began slowly dosing this into my tank. At first, I was dosing such a small amount, a bit afraid that a little bit of a “good” thing could throw things amok. I was still not getting any hint of color change in either the Red Sea or Salifert Nitrate kits. So… I slowly upped the dosages. I finally got it to hit .75 -1.0. I would stop and it would slowly fall. I dosed again…this time I stuck with it with some minor maintenance amounts. Still the levels would fall. I kept on dosing and playing with the amounts. I now have it so the Nitrates are right around 2 to 3. As you can guess, I started to see a noticeable difference in my corals. Things like my Rainbow and Sunburst nems that I got from a friend, they started to color up. I started to see color return to the sps I have in the tank. Some of the hammers I have in the tank started to look better. I have an elegance that 6 months ago I thought was all but a goner, that is now looking great. The tank is doing so well, my friend handed over some remnants of sunburst nems he was losing from one of his tanks. They too are starting to bounce back. I have some green and green purple rimmed montis that are almost like “a sparrow in a mine” for me. If their color starts to fade even slightly, then the Nitrates are slipping.
All in all, things are starting to look significantly better. Of course, it is all a balancing act. The struggle is real. But as we close out summer and start spending more time inside, I am happy to say the glass box that I stare into is starting to really take shape….after all these years. Lets hope they stay that way.
In closing, here are a couple of pictures. Sorry, I am not the best photographer.
OP
OP
dansreef
Well-Known Member
It is hard to believe, but my tank is now three years old. I have been through some ups and downs with this thing. I fought nutrients issues.... both too high and too low.... I have had AEFWs.... and the dreaded Dinoflagellates. After three years, I have learned a lot... been humbled.... been thrilled and utterly frustrated....
At the three year mark... I had hoped it would be a lot further along than it is.... but... it seems to now have finally settled in. Some oobservations from along the way as I reflect on the three years.
a) Take it slow... I know this is an old adage in the hobby... but sometimes those old adages will keep you from throwing money away
b) Expensive Fish... Corals....etc... look great... they can be so beautiful. If you cannot maintain stability and provide them what they need.... they can go quickly...
c) Expensive equipment...or equipment that seem to be the fad at the time... don't always live up to what they were sold as. I wont give specifics... but my basement fish room has a number of items that I will never use.. and frankly don't think I want to sell to others... as they just did not perform the way they should have.
d) Stay Calm and Breath... I have had corals RTN, STN.... I have had them color up nice then the next day be brown... I would chase one parameter to only see another drop... I have had AEFW and the more common flatworms. I now dip everything... even if it comes from a friend... regardless of how beautiful their tank is. I have had Dinos... that I fought a long hard battle with. I finally got the upper hand... by not using chemicals or a variety of other fad treatments. Nope. Everything I tried showed some initial promise...but ultimately failed to solve the problem and in some instances made things a lot worse. I got the upper hand by letting my tank go dirty and encouraging other algae and bacteria to out compete the dinos and in my case keep them in check and in healthy populations. I added micro fauna...and fostered an environment where they thrived. After many...many months.... I finally have a tank that is not over run with Dinos...though they are still present. The point, things take time to get out of whack. They also take time to get back into balance. Quick fixes are pipedreams. There are few if any silver bullets out there.
e) Simplicity. This tank was supposed to be my show tank... my centerpiece tank... I got all sorts of cool equipment. I tested water like a mad man. I chased parameters as if perfection was a steady state that could be achieved and maintained. As I did this with this tank... I neglected my other tanks. Basically fed and topped them off with RODI and the very occasional water changes. What happened was those tanks thrived... they found their balance... and the fish and coral thrived. They weren't the prettiest tanks...their water parameters were not perfect... but dang they grew coral and fish. I have been on a mission to simplify this 180 over the last year... and all that I use to maintain it. I still test water... alk, ca... nitrates... and that is it. I do monthly water changes... about 20%. I dose acropower once a week and dose BRS two part via a doser to maintain alk and ca. I feed the fish like crazy... two 4" nori sheets a day... and 2-3 1" cubes of mysis and rod's a day sometimes I feed more... and some times I feed less. I then feed the corals a combo of reef roids and reef chili a couple times a week. That is about it. My nitrates hang out about .5-2 ppm and phosphates at about .02 - .00. Alk stays about 8.5ish... and CA about 420. I have heaters controlled via an Apex... and manage temp at about a variation of +/- .7 degrees and my PH fluxes at about +/- .15 over the course of 24 hours with an average for the last couple of months of 8.3 per my apex. The tank is doing nicely... I am seeing some nice growth and coloration. The fish are fat and happy. This move towards simplicity is paying off.
f) Read, Learn... make informed decisions on adding coral....fish... at solving problems. R2R is an awesome resource. There is a lot of great advice and information....there is also some not so great stuff... At the end of the day, if you are going to keep fish, corals and other inhabitants... you need to educate yourself and rely less on others. Also, I would argue... there are experts.... want-to-be experts... influencers... and want-t0-be influencers.... Those who I respect most are the ones who are constantly learning themselves as well as teaching... not telling...others. I love helping others. I have my opinion on things. I will never say I am an expert. I have been in this hobby since the mid 80's and learn something new every day.... sometimes for the 4th or 5th time....
Well.... I guess if you are still reading this... I would be amazed... I get a bit long winded.... but I also find posts like this from others to be very useful. I often find nuggets or similar experiences I am having. I hope this lengthy post... and the progression of my tank to be helpful to others.
Here are a couple of pictures I took this morning as the blues came on. I am using a blue filter clip for my phone... yeah... one of these days I need to learn how to take better pictures....
At the three year mark... I had hoped it would be a lot further along than it is.... but... it seems to now have finally settled in. Some oobservations from along the way as I reflect on the three years.
a) Take it slow... I know this is an old adage in the hobby... but sometimes those old adages will keep you from throwing money away
b) Expensive Fish... Corals....etc... look great... they can be so beautiful. If you cannot maintain stability and provide them what they need.... they can go quickly...
c) Expensive equipment...or equipment that seem to be the fad at the time... don't always live up to what they were sold as. I wont give specifics... but my basement fish room has a number of items that I will never use.. and frankly don't think I want to sell to others... as they just did not perform the way they should have.
d) Stay Calm and Breath... I have had corals RTN, STN.... I have had them color up nice then the next day be brown... I would chase one parameter to only see another drop... I have had AEFW and the more common flatworms. I now dip everything... even if it comes from a friend... regardless of how beautiful their tank is. I have had Dinos... that I fought a long hard battle with. I finally got the upper hand... by not using chemicals or a variety of other fad treatments. Nope. Everything I tried showed some initial promise...but ultimately failed to solve the problem and in some instances made things a lot worse. I got the upper hand by letting my tank go dirty and encouraging other algae and bacteria to out compete the dinos and in my case keep them in check and in healthy populations. I added micro fauna...and fostered an environment where they thrived. After many...many months.... I finally have a tank that is not over run with Dinos...though they are still present. The point, things take time to get out of whack. They also take time to get back into balance. Quick fixes are pipedreams. There are few if any silver bullets out there.
e) Simplicity. This tank was supposed to be my show tank... my centerpiece tank... I got all sorts of cool equipment. I tested water like a mad man. I chased parameters as if perfection was a steady state that could be achieved and maintained. As I did this with this tank... I neglected my other tanks. Basically fed and topped them off with RODI and the very occasional water changes. What happened was those tanks thrived... they found their balance... and the fish and coral thrived. They weren't the prettiest tanks...their water parameters were not perfect... but dang they grew coral and fish. I have been on a mission to simplify this 180 over the last year... and all that I use to maintain it. I still test water... alk, ca... nitrates... and that is it. I do monthly water changes... about 20%. I dose acropower once a week and dose BRS two part via a doser to maintain alk and ca. I feed the fish like crazy... two 4" nori sheets a day... and 2-3 1" cubes of mysis and rod's a day sometimes I feed more... and some times I feed less. I then feed the corals a combo of reef roids and reef chili a couple times a week. That is about it. My nitrates hang out about .5-2 ppm and phosphates at about .02 - .00. Alk stays about 8.5ish... and CA about 420. I have heaters controlled via an Apex... and manage temp at about a variation of +/- .7 degrees and my PH fluxes at about +/- .15 over the course of 24 hours with an average for the last couple of months of 8.3 per my apex. The tank is doing nicely... I am seeing some nice growth and coloration. The fish are fat and happy. This move towards simplicity is paying off.
f) Read, Learn... make informed decisions on adding coral....fish... at solving problems. R2R is an awesome resource. There is a lot of great advice and information....there is also some not so great stuff... At the end of the day, if you are going to keep fish, corals and other inhabitants... you need to educate yourself and rely less on others. Also, I would argue... there are experts.... want-to-be experts... influencers... and want-t0-be influencers.... Those who I respect most are the ones who are constantly learning themselves as well as teaching... not telling...others. I love helping others. I have my opinion on things. I will never say I am an expert. I have been in this hobby since the mid 80's and learn something new every day.... sometimes for the 4th or 5th time....
Well.... I guess if you are still reading this... I would be amazed... I get a bit long winded.... but I also find posts like this from others to be very useful. I often find nuggets or similar experiences I am having. I hope this lengthy post... and the progression of my tank to be helpful to others.
Here are a couple of pictures I took this morning as the blues came on. I am using a blue filter clip for my phone... yeah... one of these days I need to learn how to take better pictures....
dbraun15
Well-Known Member
Good to see things on the upward trend! My tank is a little over two years old and isn't where I expected it to be either! I agree with the simplicity idea...the more I ignore the maintenance/messing with chemistry, the better the tank looks! Keep it up!
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Looks awesome!
OP
OP
dansreef
Well-Known Member
Nearly a month has gone by since my last update. I am going to try to commit to writing at least one update per month... My update this month is straightforward...but also a bit troublesome. Dinoflagellates have reared their ugly heads again. In the past, I would have gotten all worked up and started the latest search for a cure. This time it is different. I have a better appreciation for Dinos and a strong opinion on how to deal with them. So, I am going to practice what I preach…
It has been quite a while since I tentatively declared victory over these little jerks. I honestly don't think you ever really win... I think you put them into check and other forms of algae and bacteria outcompete them. I have regularly pulled samples of concerning stuff and placed them under the microscope. On occasion I would see some dinos in amongst algae and cyano bacteria. As long as I saw cyano or other algae, together with micro fauna like pods and worms, I never really got too concerned. I have come to believe that too low of nutrients lowers the amounts of algae and bacteria in the tank as well as micro fauna. As a result, dinos have an opportunity to bloom. For me, I have found it tough to maintain nitrates and phosphates in this tank. I feed my fish and corals like crazy. But…. Struggle to have more than .5 Nitrates and anything higher than 0-.02 for phosphates. Well… the result is that over the last couple of weeks I have seen a rust colored powdery like material grow in the sand bed.
A couple of weeks ago I had done some scaping in the tank and removed some rock and mushrooms to clean up the appearance a bit. My corals seemed to be doing better and things seemed good overall… I wanted to also make room for more corals… I should have knocked on wood. I must have uncovered some encysted dinos and boom they started growing…. Just on the sand. I pulled samples and much to my chagrin…. Confirmed… Dinos!
As you can see in this picture…sorry… a phone picture… you can see the rust colored material that I have confirmed as dinos. You will also see some red material… that is cyano bacteria. I have had low quantities of Cyano in my tank ever since the end of the last war with Dinos. As long as it does not get out of control… I am fine with some of it in my tank. I pulled some cyano material from the rocks two days before this picture and added it to the place where the dinos have appeared. You can see that the section is small two days later. About half the size of a dime. Today… it is about the size of a small saucer. The Dinos are still in the tank on the sand and have spread. They have not migrated to the rock. The area now around the cyano has less concentration of dinos… but it is still there.
My belief is that I need to raise the nutrient levels of the tank to build more pods, algae and cyano. So I turned off the skimmer for a couple of days, put my algae scrubber on a 12 hour on/off schedule and kept feeding the fish and coral more. The result, the nitrates have risen to 4 ppm and the phosphates are at .05 this morning. I am already seeing a noticeable increase of algae and cyano. I am also seeing more pods in the sump and in the display. The green spotted dragonette is fat and happy. Fortunately the tank’s rock and corals are untouched by the dinos. My hope is this will continue and I will get the little jerks back in check.
I have been asking myself why the bloom now. As I mentioned, I moved some rock out of the tanks along with some fuzzy mushrooms and a large gorgonian. I also moved some sand around to fill in areas the diamond goby and flow had created bare areas. I think this stirred up stuff that may have been largely dormant. I also started dosing some trace elements. This may have also contributed to the timing of the bloom. I am cutting back on that amount. I also bought some new corals, 6 different frags of some nice stuff. JF Fox Flame, Grizzly Adams, WCR Rainbow, WC Yellow Tip, and a couple of others. I got these at frag swaps and other reefers the last couple of months. All of the corals were dipped… and inspected very closely for any other scourges. Could some dinos have come in with them….maybe. Regardless of the source… they have reared up again. This time… they will NOT take over!
Well, I am going to sign off for now… sorry for another very lengthy update. I am going to practice what I have been preaching…. Going dirty… let nutrients rise… let cyano and other green alga grow… keep them under control….but let them exist in the tank to outcompete the dinos. Once the dinos fade… I will correct the nutrient levels and slowly clean up the tank. I will give some more updates as needed. For now, I will close with a morning picture of the tank with the winter sun beaming in. I usually get about 20 mins of sunlight to the tank at various times of the year. The corals love it… The Fish do as well.
Wish me luck!
It has been quite a while since I tentatively declared victory over these little jerks. I honestly don't think you ever really win... I think you put them into check and other forms of algae and bacteria outcompete them. I have regularly pulled samples of concerning stuff and placed them under the microscope. On occasion I would see some dinos in amongst algae and cyano bacteria. As long as I saw cyano or other algae, together with micro fauna like pods and worms, I never really got too concerned. I have come to believe that too low of nutrients lowers the amounts of algae and bacteria in the tank as well as micro fauna. As a result, dinos have an opportunity to bloom. For me, I have found it tough to maintain nitrates and phosphates in this tank. I feed my fish and corals like crazy. But…. Struggle to have more than .5 Nitrates and anything higher than 0-.02 for phosphates. Well… the result is that over the last couple of weeks I have seen a rust colored powdery like material grow in the sand bed.
A couple of weeks ago I had done some scaping in the tank and removed some rock and mushrooms to clean up the appearance a bit. My corals seemed to be doing better and things seemed good overall… I wanted to also make room for more corals… I should have knocked on wood. I must have uncovered some encysted dinos and boom they started growing…. Just on the sand. I pulled samples and much to my chagrin…. Confirmed… Dinos!
As you can see in this picture…sorry… a phone picture… you can see the rust colored material that I have confirmed as dinos. You will also see some red material… that is cyano bacteria. I have had low quantities of Cyano in my tank ever since the end of the last war with Dinos. As long as it does not get out of control… I am fine with some of it in my tank. I pulled some cyano material from the rocks two days before this picture and added it to the place where the dinos have appeared. You can see that the section is small two days later. About half the size of a dime. Today… it is about the size of a small saucer. The Dinos are still in the tank on the sand and have spread. They have not migrated to the rock. The area now around the cyano has less concentration of dinos… but it is still there.
My belief is that I need to raise the nutrient levels of the tank to build more pods, algae and cyano. So I turned off the skimmer for a couple of days, put my algae scrubber on a 12 hour on/off schedule and kept feeding the fish and coral more. The result, the nitrates have risen to 4 ppm and the phosphates are at .05 this morning. I am already seeing a noticeable increase of algae and cyano. I am also seeing more pods in the sump and in the display. The green spotted dragonette is fat and happy. Fortunately the tank’s rock and corals are untouched by the dinos. My hope is this will continue and I will get the little jerks back in check.
I have been asking myself why the bloom now. As I mentioned, I moved some rock out of the tanks along with some fuzzy mushrooms and a large gorgonian. I also moved some sand around to fill in areas the diamond goby and flow had created bare areas. I think this stirred up stuff that may have been largely dormant. I also started dosing some trace elements. This may have also contributed to the timing of the bloom. I am cutting back on that amount. I also bought some new corals, 6 different frags of some nice stuff. JF Fox Flame, Grizzly Adams, WCR Rainbow, WC Yellow Tip, and a couple of others. I got these at frag swaps and other reefers the last couple of months. All of the corals were dipped… and inspected very closely for any other scourges. Could some dinos have come in with them….maybe. Regardless of the source… they have reared up again. This time… they will NOT take over!
Well, I am going to sign off for now… sorry for another very lengthy update. I am going to practice what I have been preaching…. Going dirty… let nutrients rise… let cyano and other green alga grow… keep them under control….but let them exist in the tank to outcompete the dinos. Once the dinos fade… I will correct the nutrient levels and slowly clean up the tank. I will give some more updates as needed. For now, I will close with a morning picture of the tank with the winter sun beaming in. I usually get about 20 mins of sunlight to the tank at various times of the year. The corals love it… The Fish do as well.
Wish me luck!
OP
OP
dansreef
Well-Known Member
Just a quick update.... Dinos seem to have stopped spreading. Since I had some water already mixed and in queue... I decided to siphon the visible dino population off of the first layer of the sand. I know.... you aren't supposed to do water changes... Total sand removed about 3 cups.... I use a medium diameter semi rigid airline... which gives me precision, low water volume and no clogging... I removed all visible dinos with a total water replacement of a minor 5 gallons in a 225 TWV. It should not add any significant trace elements to cause another surge or bloom. Interestingly, there are no dinos that I can see on any of the rock. There is cyano which does not concern me at this point. Cyano should outcompete the dinos...and preserve rock real estate. At this point... the dinos seem to be only in the sand... While siphoning the sand I made sure to remove the top layer of the sand without letting any to flow back into the tank. I am sure I did not eradicate them. Rather, I took out a significant amount of the visible population... hopefully allowing other algae and micro fauna a leg up.
Nitrates right now are at 4-5 and phosphates are .08. I am fine with these as they should encourage more green algae growth.... I can already see on the tank sides. The snails and tangs are relishing the extra treat. We will see how this works out.
As I was getting the upper hand a few months ago... I recall doing similar siphoning... The intent was to remove the large populations... not intending to eradicate. I recall about 4-5 siphoning sessions... about the same as described above. Small water volume... with precision to remove visible population. We will see how it works this time around. Will update as needed.
Nitrates right now are at 4-5 and phosphates are .08. I am fine with these as they should encourage more green algae growth.... I can already see on the tank sides. The snails and tangs are relishing the extra treat. We will see how this works out.
As I was getting the upper hand a few months ago... I recall doing similar siphoning... The intent was to remove the large populations... not intending to eradicate. I recall about 4-5 siphoning sessions... about the same as described above. Small water volume... with precision to remove visible population. We will see how it works this time around. Will update as needed.
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dansreef
Well-Known Member
It has been almost 2 months since my last update. First off, I mentioned in January that I had a recurrence of Dinoflagellates in my tank. I started to see a rust colored hue on my sand. I decided to do nothing other than let my nutrients rise and let algae and cyano take on the Dinos. My nitrates rose to 5-10 and phosphates rose to .05. As my last update indicated, the spread of the dinos halted. Well.. I can report as of now, the dinos are gone. I did nothing other than let the nutrients rise and let the competition begin. I fed my fish and corals like crazy. The pod populations skyrocketed.... The Dinos are gone! There are some residual cyano and some other algae... but I am fine with it.
I have also added some additional corals. Some are doing well.... others not so much. Acros are the main interest for me...but my tank is a mixed coral tank. I have some acros that are growing like weeds. Others that just are getting by. As you will see in an attached picture below... I have added a bridge rock formation to allow me more space for corals. This addition has worked out well thus far. I may add to in over time.
My fish are doing really well. No ailments or issues (touch wood) and seem to be thriving. As I have mentioned, I do not QT my fish. Instead I try to make a nice stress free environment. I feed a lot and it shows as they are all plump. One downside to their growth is that they bump into corals and break off pieces. I started accumulating frags, have given a few away... I haven't sold any, mainly it seems like either people are buying stupid expensive stuff for hundred of dollars.... or they want you to give your stuff away. I had a huge JF Champaign Cooler frag that broke off.... a huge piece. I gave it to a neighbor reefer... I had a smaller piece that was pretty nice 2"-'3" that I thought I would see if I could sell. I couldn't. Nobody wanted to buy it. Granted.... I am a bit of a drive for some people. But... I see 1" frags of this going for $50 +. I ended up gluing the piece back in. I have a nice 3" orange digi that I have posted for like $30. No one seems interested. I will end up gluing that one back in I am sure.
I am going to talk to a few LFS to see if they might be interested in some frags. Perhaps I can offset some of the food costs for these fat fish.
Here are a couple of pictures I took this afternoon. Sorry... my cellphone camera sucks at tank pictures.
I have also added some additional corals. Some are doing well.... others not so much. Acros are the main interest for me...but my tank is a mixed coral tank. I have some acros that are growing like weeds. Others that just are getting by. As you will see in an attached picture below... I have added a bridge rock formation to allow me more space for corals. This addition has worked out well thus far. I may add to in over time.
My fish are doing really well. No ailments or issues (touch wood) and seem to be thriving. As I have mentioned, I do not QT my fish. Instead I try to make a nice stress free environment. I feed a lot and it shows as they are all plump. One downside to their growth is that they bump into corals and break off pieces. I started accumulating frags, have given a few away... I haven't sold any, mainly it seems like either people are buying stupid expensive stuff for hundred of dollars.... or they want you to give your stuff away. I had a huge JF Champaign Cooler frag that broke off.... a huge piece. I gave it to a neighbor reefer... I had a smaller piece that was pretty nice 2"-'3" that I thought I would see if I could sell. I couldn't. Nobody wanted to buy it. Granted.... I am a bit of a drive for some people. But... I see 1" frags of this going for $50 +. I ended up gluing the piece back in. I have a nice 3" orange digi that I have posted for like $30. No one seems interested. I will end up gluing that one back in I am sure.
I am going to talk to a few LFS to see if they might be interested in some frags. Perhaps I can offset some of the food costs for these fat fish.
Here are a couple of pictures I took this afternoon. Sorry... my cellphone camera sucks at tank pictures.
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dansreef
Well-Known Member
Been a while since I last posted to my thread here. Things have been interesting / challenging in my life and so have not had much time for the boards.
So after 9ish months, here is an updated FTS of my tank. I am planning to do some work this weekend on the rockscape, some removal of some hairy mushrooms that have gone nuts, some fragging of some montis and other corals. This will be a before picture taken a few minutes ago as the lights were starting to ramp up. we will see how things look afterwards.
Some noticeble changes to the tank since last picture:
So after 9ish months, here is an updated FTS of my tank. I am planning to do some work this weekend on the rockscape, some removal of some hairy mushrooms that have gone nuts, some fragging of some montis and other corals. This will be a before picture taken a few minutes ago as the lights were starting to ramp up. we will see how things look afterwards.
Some noticeble changes to the tank since last picture:
- Loss of nearly all of the my birds nest corals. While not a big deal as they can get out of hand, not sure why they declined and died off. I did have an alk swing that took it to 10, but I resolved it slowly. Also, it is interesting the other SPS in the tank were largely OK.
- I have three bubbletip nems that have grown large... and moved around which has impacted some of my corals. I need to figure out how to persuade them to move or to remove them.
- I have had a couple of anthias as well as my sandsifting goby either die off or go carpet surfing. I want to replace the goby at some point. The other fish are doing well. That said, the tangs and rabbit fish are like bulldozers. If there is a coral in the way, they plow right through it. This has caused a lot of corals to lose some of the growth.
- Equipment wise, I have had to replace my hammer head pump from the basement only to have the new one sieze up with a snail shell that somehow got into it even with a screen. This led to a small water overflow of the display.... operator error on my part. I officially joined the soggy carpet club when 5-10 gals of water made its way out of the display. I also have an MP40w which has gone on the fritz. I am trying to get resolutions with Ecotech...but it has been challenging to say the least over the holidays to get help.
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dansreef
Well-Known Member
A quick update on the tank and the work this weekend. As I was messing around with the right side, one thing led to another and I ended up pulling the rock and evicting two huge and beautiful bubble tip nems. One is a rainbow and the other is a sunburst. Both had been rehomed with me from my neighbor a few months ago when they were not doing too well in his aquarium. They thrived in mine and started to wreak havoc on some neighboring SPS. S0, since I was on a mission and some of the rockwork had gotten dislodged, I decided to give them notice. I also put in a terrace on the left side of the tank as a place to move some of the SPS that was being annoyed by the nems above... Well... now I have a lot more room for SPS.... 
Here is a new FTS from this afternoon as well as a shot of the two nems that are now on the market, one of which may have a buyer stopping by later today. Whichever one they buy, will be a great addition to a tank. The pictures don't do them any justice. Clowns are not included! I am hoping they will rehost in another sunburst I cannot extricate from the tank or a torch colony that remains.
Here is a new FTS from this afternoon as well as a shot of the two nems that are now on the market, one of which may have a buyer stopping by later today. Whichever one they buy, will be a great addition to a tank. The pictures don't do them any justice. Clowns are not included! I am hoping they will rehost in another sunburst I cannot extricate from the tank or a torch colony that remains.
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dansreef
Well-Known Member
Hard to believe that it has been so long since I have posted an update to my tank. Lots of "stuff" going on and I just dont go to R2R as much as I used to. I was just on and see the updated format to R2R! I like it.
Here is a FTS of my tank. I have moved all the BTAs out of the tank. They were doing more harm than good. I have also moved some stuff around. All in all the fish are all healthy... and many of the corals are doing great. I added some small clams a few months ago. They did not do well. I have one kind of hanging on. The other I got from my neighbor and it did not do well in his tank either. Unfortunately, it crapped out. One day it looked good....the next gone. They were small cultured ones. I think a number of factors contributed. Suffice to say that clams don't do well in my tank.
I had a malfunction of my doser the other day. One of the heads broke and popped off. Fortunately, it did not do any real harm to the tank. It was the calcium part. The replacement of the head was pretty straight forward.
I mentioned to a new person on R2R that I am living with Dinos in my system...and that is true. I have patches of dinos on the glass and in the algae scrubber. As long as I keep my nitrates about 5-10 and phosphates above .04.... I have no problems. If these levels drop... I see added growth. I know that these are dinos because I often look at material under the microscope. Microscopes are great investments in this hobby. Anyway... I know there are some new regimens to rid dinos. I have found living with them.... and managing them to work for me. Of course...they could be the reason the clams mentioned above did not do well.
I will post more pictures later...with some more closeups.
Here is a FTS of my tank. I have moved all the BTAs out of the tank. They were doing more harm than good. I have also moved some stuff around. All in all the fish are all healthy... and many of the corals are doing great. I added some small clams a few months ago. They did not do well. I have one kind of hanging on. The other I got from my neighbor and it did not do well in his tank either. Unfortunately, it crapped out. One day it looked good....the next gone. They were small cultured ones. I think a number of factors contributed. Suffice to say that clams don't do well in my tank.
I had a malfunction of my doser the other day. One of the heads broke and popped off. Fortunately, it did not do any real harm to the tank. It was the calcium part. The replacement of the head was pretty straight forward.
I mentioned to a new person on R2R that I am living with Dinos in my system...and that is true. I have patches of dinos on the glass and in the algae scrubber. As long as I keep my nitrates about 5-10 and phosphates above .04.... I have no problems. If these levels drop... I see added growth. I know that these are dinos because I often look at material under the microscope. Microscopes are great investments in this hobby. Anyway... I know there are some new regimens to rid dinos. I have found living with them.... and managing them to work for me. Of course...they could be the reason the clams mentioned above did not do well.
I will post more pictures later...with some more closeups.
Daniel@R2R
Living the Reef Life
Glad you jumped on with an update! Looking forward to more pics!Hard to believe that it has been so long since I have posted an update to my tank. Lots of "stuff" going on and I just dont go to R2R as much as I used to. I was just on and see the updated format to R2R! I like it.
Here is a FTS of my tank. I have moved all the BTAs out of the tank. They were doing more harm than good. I have also moved some stuff around. All in all the fish are all healthy... and many of the corals are doing great. I added some small clams a few months ago. They did not do well. I have one kind of hanging on. The other I got from my neighbor and it did not do well in his tank either. Unfortunately, it crapped out. One day it looked good....the next gone. They were small cultured ones. I think a number of factors contributed. Suffice to say that clams don't do well in my tank.
I had a malfunction of my doser the other day. One of the heads broke and popped off. Fortunately, it did not do any real harm to the tank. It was the calcium part. The replacement of the head was pretty straight forward.
I mentioned to a new person on R2R that I am living with Dinos in my system...and that is true. I have patches of dinos on the glass and in the algae scrubber. As long as I keep my nitrates about 5-10 and phosphates above .04.... I have no problems. If these levels drop... I see added growth. I know that these are dinos because I often look at material under the microscope. Microscopes are great investments in this hobby. Anyway... I know there are some new regimens to rid dinos. I have found living with them.... and managing them to work for me. Of course...they could be the reason the clams mentioned above did not do well.
I will post more pictures later...with some more closeups.
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dansreef
Well-Known Member
The other day I was reading some posts from people who have had fish spawn in their reefs. I thought it interesting that in all the years I have had reef tanks, I have never had a fish spawning event. I have had urchins, shrimp, crabs and loads and loads of snails and other critters reproduce, but never fish.
Well I guess my clown pair took that as a challenge...and got busy.... as Saturday morning I saw that they had a clutch of new eggs they were tending to. The clowns are hosting in some torch corals as a few months ago I removed all the BTAs in my tank. The BTAs liked to walk around and kill other corals....so they got rehomed. Almost immediately the clowns moved to some torch colonies I have in the tank. The torches seem to enjoy the clowns hosting them....and the clowns must be happy since they have now begun to reproduce. Note: I have no current intentions of trying to raise the young.
Here are some pictures. The first from Saturday morning shortly after I noticed the clutch of eggs. Then the rest are from today.... now in the 4th day.
Well I guess my clown pair took that as a challenge...and got busy.... as Saturday morning I saw that they had a clutch of new eggs they were tending to. The clowns are hosting in some torch corals as a few months ago I removed all the BTAs in my tank. The BTAs liked to walk around and kill other corals....so they got rehomed. Almost immediately the clowns moved to some torch colonies I have in the tank. The torches seem to enjoy the clowns hosting them....and the clowns must be happy since they have now begun to reproduce. Note: I have no current intentions of trying to raise the young.
Here are some pictures. The first from Saturday morning shortly after I noticed the clutch of eggs. Then the rest are from today.... now in the 4th day.
