Isaac's CADE 1500s2/ Peninsula Reef Build

[Widdlyscudds]

It looks a lot thinner. The tank seems to be heading in the right direction

 

[Isaac Alves]

Water test results this morning:

Removed vibrating XF330 gyre and did a good siphoning this morning. Followed up with some coral snow treatment.

 

[Isaac Alves]

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[Isaac Alves]

Did a 21% water change—that’s 39 gallons. Whew. Hopefully this helps. I’ll do another next week.

 

[Isaac Alves]

just finished a test of major elements and phosphate.

My phosphate is hovering around .02-.03ppm range still. In didn’t bother testing nitrates this morning.

I have another Fauna Marin ICP test coming in today that I’ll do and send out. I’m curious where my levels are across the board.

Because the uv is not doing anything against the chrysos. They’re as golden as ever. I’m probably going to try the fluconazole treatment at this point. I might as well since I’m sure I have briopsis. And reading a few threads dealing with chrysos it seems fluconazole treatments worked.

Here are some pics of the chrysos around the tank:

I do notice the tangs nibbling on it. And I’m pretty certain the urchins are eating it, but it just grows right back.

 

[Isaac Alves]

I got the Fauna Marin ICP registered. This is my second Fauna Marin ICP. I did the “Complete” version last time but opted to do the standard ICP this time around —- mainly since the COMPLETE ICP version’s ratio measurements were a bit confusing to me unfortunately and I’ll need to educate myself more. But I wanted an ICP before doing further changes to the tank.

And in this case, it’s the use of Reef Flux. Which I hopefully get to start today. The chrysos challenge has been demoralizing and confounding. My parameters seem in line. My nutrients are good. The UV has been running and my flow is strong. But it’s my belief that these things are not in the water column and are bound tightly to surfaces.

I removed most of my chaeto and the system is ready.

Will just take my ICP samples first.

 

[Isaac Alves]

Fauna Marin standard ICP test this morning.....

packed...

 

[Isaac Alves]

Reef Flux Dose to kill Chrysos and Briopsis

 

[Isaac Alves]

I dosed fluconazole at 4:23pm PST today. Using Reef Flux.

Tank right before dosing:

Note the method others use to dose Fluconazole. I used Reef Flux tablets, opening 20 tablets into a plastic beaker. What was surprising to me was that after adding aquarium water to mix the powder the powder hardened. I had to crush it up and mix it using a magnetic mixer to help get it dissolved.

Just something to note.

How are others adding fluconazole to their tanks to treat bryopsis or gha? In my case, chrysos.

 

[Isaac Alves]

I siphoned out a lot of the chrysos today. Seemed like a lot of growth and I felt compelled to remove it by putting a sock in the sump so none of the water is lost and the flucanozal doesn’t get diluted.

Spraying the socks clean into the garden:

I see no change in anything in the tank though, in terms of the Reef Flux doing anything yet.

 

[Isaac Alves]

I’m not seeing any change 3 days in unfortunately. I know it’s a 3 week time frame but still. I’ll turn the skimmer on today at 5pm.

Focusing on the Tampa Bay Live Rock bolder to see any changes…

 

[Isaac Alves]

If fluconazle is supposed to weaken the algae cell walls I wonder if I should be doing something alongside the treatment? Like H2O2 dosing?

I know, I’m being impatient. But just as a thought exercise, if the cell walls are weaker then increased oxidization in the water could enhance the breakdown of cell structure, right? I suppose the use of H2O2 or any other treatment at the same time is a “too-many-things-at-once” situation which I should avoid.

I was hoping for something more dramatic to happen I suppose — but nothing seems to happen quickly and I should wait for balance.

Planning on turning on skimmer in about an hour. My pH really took a hit with the skimmer off.

 

[210_Reef]

If fluconazle is supposed to weaken the algae cell walls I wonder if I should be doing something alongside the treatment? Like H2O2 dosing?

I know, I’m being impatient. But just as a thought exercise, if the cell walls are weaker then increased oxidization in the water could enhance the breakdown of cell structure, right? I suppose the use of H2O2 or any other treatment at the same time is a “too-many-things-at-once” situation which I should avoid.

I was hoping for something more dramatic to happen I suppose — but nothing seems to happen quickly and I should wait for balance.

Planning on turning on skimmer in about an hour. My pH really took a hit with the skimmer off.

I was going to suggest H2O2 but I noticed you had some soft corals. I believe Hydrogen Peroxide may cause problems with softies but I am not 100% and depending on dosage will affect some inverts if you have any.. I lost a Fire shrimp and a rock boring urchin as I steadily increased the dose but my Euphyllias, Montis, and Acros are ok. My pincushion urchins were ok until recently but I think its because I am dosing higher amounts and they also may be starving from the reduction of algae to graze on. Otherwise Hydrogen Peroxide and a cheap Turbo Twist UV has done very well for algae in my aquarium. I am mainly targeting Ich, but I have seen a significant reduction in hair algae. Also make sure to only dose at night and I wouldn't mix different additives just stick with one to be safe.

 

[Isaac Alves]

The first full week of fluconazole in the water. And I'm starting to see changes. The algae is showing signs of cellular degradation. But the chrysos seem unaffected, I think. I run through my thoughts in the video below and show the algae changes that are occurring in the tank.

​

 

[Isaac Alves]

The Fauna Marin ICP came back. I'll share a few key things that interested me here. I should have gotten the more expensive "Complete" test as opposed to the very inexpensive "Standard" since it leaves some elements out and measurements out, ...see below. Everything that's "gray" is not measured in the $24.99 Standard Fauna Marin test:

In any case, the one element that caught my eye was Aluminum which is still super high. Here's a quick overview of the values that should be checked:

Everything else is on the LOW to VERY LOW side of things except for Aluminum. Which actually is lower than it was from the first test.

This shows the trend between the two tests for Aluminum:

Another interesting point for me is that my ULR Phosphorous Hanna checker is still on point. I took a PO4 reading right before sampling the water for this ICP and the values match up:

Which I'm feeding a bit more to fix. My levels yesterday evening was still .01. But higher in the last week since I registered "0".

I'll definitely do another one after the Fluconazole treatment period and a water change.

 

[danieyella]

I was going to suggest H2O2 but I noticed you had some soft corals. I believe Hydrogen Peroxide may cause problems with softies but I am not 100% and depending on dosage will affect some inverts if you have any.. I lost a Fire shrimp and a rock boring urchin as I steadily increased the dose but my Euphyllias, Montis, and Acros are ok. My pincushion urchins were ok until recently but I think its because I am dosing higher amounts and they also may be starving from the reduction of algae to graze on. Otherwise Hydrogen Peroxide and a cheap Turbo Twist UV has done very well for algae in my aquarium. I am mainly targeting Ich, but I have seen a significant reduction in hair algae. Also make sure to only dose at night and I wouldn't mix different additives just stick with one to be safe.

I can't speak for direct hits, but I use an oxydator w/ 12% peroxide in my tank to help control algae - no issues with my softies.

 

[Isaac Alves]

I can't speak for direct hits, but I use an oxydator w/ 12% peroxide in my tank to help control algae - no issues with my softies.

Is there something I can read about this? I've never really fully read up on these things.

 

[danieyella]

Is there something I can read about this? I've never really fully read up on these things.

There are a couple threads floating around here about it, but there's a Facebook group that is more active which is where I was able to get better information before purchasing. I believe it's called oxydator user group or something along those lines.

 

[~MD~Reefs~]

I learned a free days ago what this little temple warning symbol means on the Apex EB832 means…

My EcoFlow battery backup was in the middle of recharging after an overnight power outage..

This caused the voltage to drop. Luckily everything was running fine and the Ecoflow system load balanced the charging and AC draw.

Question if you don’t mind answering: Would you recommend that ecoflow battery? What size did you guy and how long does it last you in the event of a power outage?

 

[~MD~Reefs~]

I learned a free days ago what this little temple warning symbol means on the Apex EB832 means…

My EcoFlow battery backup was in the middle of recharging after an overnight power outage..

This caused the voltage to drop. Luckily everything was running fine and the Ecoflow system load balanced the charging and AC draw.

Question if you don’t mind answering: Would you recommend that ecoflow battery? What size did you guy and how long does it last you in the event of a power outage?