IM 25: Mini Acro Graden

[Acros]

This is my third attempt at reefing. The first attempt (June 2020) was a 10g petco tank with a hob filter. It was doing alright for a couple of months, and then I decided to upgrade to a 29g tank and converted the 10g to a sump. I learned an important lesson: do not reuse sand, only kick up sand if you have to. Eventually, I reset the 29g following the WWC/BRS 4-month cycle with a dry rock + what I thought was live rock from a fellow hobbyist. I had so many issues with that tank it never could keep any coral.

Now, about this new tank. It is an innovative marine 25 lagoon. I am very excited about this tank. This will be an SPS dominant tank.

Equipment:

Tank: IM 25 lagoon
Stand: IM stand (old design)
Powerheads: 2x Jebao SLW-20M
Return: 2x SICCE 0.5
ATO: Icecap dual optical ATO (5g reservoir)
Reactor: IM MiniMax (runs GFO as required)
Filter: ROX 0.8 carbon
Heater: 2x Eheim 50w
Dosing: GHL 2.1 SA, Ecotech Versa

Light:
Radion G5 XR30 Pro

Testing:
Alk: Hanna Alk checker
Calcium: Red Sea Pro
Magnesium: Red Sea Pro
Phosphate: Hanna phosphorus ULR
Nitrate: Hanna Nitrate HR


Past equipment:
XR15 Blue G5 + diffuser
2x AliExpress (popular grow) bars (420nm, 470nm, cool white 10k alternating LEDs)
Mounting solution: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/im-25-third-times-a-charm.827797/post-10047140

Kessil ap9x - Color 40, Intensity 65, Violet 65, Red 11, Green 11. Mounting height 16”.

Rock: 20lbs from gulfliverock.com (came in on, 5/5/2021) + Marco rock
Substrate: CaribSea Aragonite Aquarium Sand, 10 lbs (rinsed as much as I could).

Tank maturity: I am following a modified version of the 30 day SPS tank maturity method discussed in this thread by @LegendaryCG : https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cg’s-1-month-rapid-reef-cycle.805186/

Me drying off the tank after a deep clean (not the best placement). That took a lot of citric acid.

Here is my tank running RODI water and getting my equipment dialed in.

Live rock from the gulf. It stunk like a fish market. Water is a little coudy. I am doing 30% water changes to bring ammonia down.

I have 3 clams on the top left rock. One has opened already. Hoping the others open soon.

 

[atlantean]

Good call on the live rock this go around.

 

[Acros]

Good call on the live rock this go around.

I certainly hope so.

 

[Acros]

I am thrilled with this live rock. I cannot capture all the colors with my phone camera. The red shown in the picture is a fluorescent red. However, there is a lot of die-off, especially worms. A lot of dead worms everywhere. I removed as much as I could and dipped the rock in 1.035 salinity water for 1 min.

Week 1 plan:

• Added a bag of GFO and another bag of carbon to the return. I am hoping that carbon will keep the stink down.
• Do 30% water changes 1-2 times a day until ammonia stays below 0.25. Right now, it is sitting at around 4ppm.
• Start dosing phytoplankton from Day 4 (if ammonia stays below 0.25).

 

[Acros]

The rock is still curing. I had to pick off a lot of dead stuff from the rocks today. All clams died overnight and a lot of dead barnacles and sponges.

I added a dose of seachem prime to bring down ammonia. It was staying at 8.0 (maxed out on API) today morning. It has come down to just under 2.0 after a series of 100% water changes.

The rocks are not smelling as horrible as they were, but it is not a pleasant smell yet. haha

 

[Acros]

This is day 6. Ammonia is still high. Going to do a 50% water change in the next couple of hours.

The skimmer is already pulling out some gunk. That is the only filtration on the tank in addition to some GFO in a bag.

 

[Acros]

Day 7: Ammonia is down to 1.0. Yay!

 

[Acros]

Day 8: Ammonia down to 0.5, Nitrites at 0.5

 

[Acros]

Day 9: Ammonia has finally come down to 0.25. My tank does not stink anymore. Nitrite has gone up.

All 4 banded trochus snails are doing well.

 

[Acros]

Day 10: Ammonia stays at 0.25, Nitrates at 1.0

 

[Acros]

Day 12: The tank is finally cycled. Ammonia and nitrite reads 0. I will start dosing phyto from Wednesday onwards.

 

[Acros]

He lives on the edge!!

 

[Acros]

Things are not going to plan! I have a bryopsis algae outbreak. They got to a digitata I had added (thankfully the frag is all good now that I manually removed the algae). I dosed fluconazole today. Hopefully bryopsis will be gone in 2 weeks.

Everything else is on track. Frags are doing good. I am dosing phyto and will seed with pods this week.

Ugh.. this nasty stuff

 

[Acros]

Bryopsis is starting to die out. They have turned brownish-green.

 

[Acros]

My snails are spawning. They go up to the waterline and release sperm/egg.

 

[Acros]

Got a pair of clownfish for the tank.

 

[Acros]

We have coralline people! Coralline!!

It’s all over my rocks as well. Dead shells are starting to get fully covered in coralline as well.

 

[Acros]

Added my first acro frag. It is a tricolor granulosa.

 

[Acros]

I didn’t realize that my phosphates are at 0. Hanna phosphorus ULR reads 0. Will test again tomorrow to get a second reading.

I didn’t expect it to be 0 as I have good macro algae growth and the frags are starting to encrust.

I ordered reef energy ab+ and will feed at 50% suggested quantity. Hopefully that will keep the corals fed.

 

[Acros]

This tricolor granulosa has been coloring up, but turning lighter in color at the same time. The frag shows great polyp extension during the 2 weeks it was in my tank.

Jun 11 (when I first added it, it was a little brown at that time).

Today, June 25th: Same lighting setting.

closeup:

This is a top down picture where you can see that the coralites are turning blue.

The frag is about 5" below the waterline. XR15 G5 Blue running AB+ at 85%. Am I giving it too much light? This is the only acro frag in my tank.

Alk: 8.2
Phosphates: 0.018