John's SPS Shallow 90g Peninsula-Lagoon build

[minus9]

This is all that's left of my milli. Fortunately, I gave a piece to @Smite and to another friend. Hopefully she'll return to me and I'll place her on her very on rock?
Here's what she was in her prime. :mad:

Witch hazel and bacteria cocktail has been on the menu lately, so hopefully I can banish the funky bacteria and "clean" this tank up. Stay tuned........

 

[Smite]

Sorry to hear you lost that colony, so beautiful. Your holding piece is alive and well, just let me know when you're ready for it.

It's "funny" how some pieces just decide to go and all the neighbors are still looking great.

 

[minus9]

Sorry to hear you lost that colony, so beautiful. Your holding piece is alive and well, just let me know when you're ready for it.

It's "funny" how some pieces just decide to go and all the neighbors are still looking great.

Thanks man! Yeah, it's completely random sometimes. Hopefully the piece I gave you will thrive and turn into a nice big colony. As long as it's still growing, I'm happy. I'm hoping that between the witch hazel and four different bacteria I'm dosing will kick out the bad/funky stuff? The crazy thing is my gorgonian started to melt away. I moved it to my observation/holding tank in hopes that it will stick around. It was never super happy with the large rhodactis that surrounded it, so I'm sure there was a lot of chemical warfare going on and some of my other pieces paid the price. I'll probably move the rhodactis rock into the other tank and find a good spot for the gorgonian to hang out by itself. I really need to get my 25g lagoon going soon.

 

[drawman]

Thanks man! Yeah, it's completely random sometimes. Hopefully the piece I gave you will thrive and turn into a nice big colony. As long as it's still growing, I'm happy. I'm hoping that between the witch hazel and four different bacteria I'm dosing will kick out the bad/funky stuff? The crazy thing is my gorgonian started to melt away. I moved it to my observation/holding tank in hopes that it will stick around. It was never super happy with the large rhodactis that surrounded it, so I'm sure there was a lot of chemical warfare going on and some of my other pieces paid the price. I'll probably move the rhodactis rock into the other tank and find a good spot for the gorgonian to hang out by itself. I really need to get my 25g lagoon going soon.

Witch Hazel seems interesting. Hope it goes well and I'll be following. What are your dosing instructions?

 

[minus9]

I'm dosing 30mL of witch hazel nightly (blue label), followed by a series of different bacteria every morning following treatment. The first morning I'm starting with a double dose of biodigest prodibio (standard), then the next morning I used MB7, the next morning a single dose of prodibio again, then end with Dr Tim's eco balance. I'll take a few days off of dosing bacteria, while maintaining witch hazel at night, then start the bacteria over again 3 days later. The recommended dose of witch hazel is 20mL/100g, but I wanted to up it a little. I received some personal advice from a well known reefer and he was doing something similar, but really added more than me with another treatment option on top of the witch hazel. He has a bare bottom system, so the "other" treatment probably worked in his favor? I didn't want to add the "other" element/treatment, as I feared it might disrupt the huge microfauna population that I have in my tank. Andre (reef moonshiners creator) outlined the treatment on his FB group page and others have adopted the method with some success. I'm only 3 days into this treatment and I've found some patches of cyano are noticeably lighter in color, with other patches actively dissolving. My TN issues stem from warfare and probably a bacterial pathogen or something similar, but I'm only guessing here? I could have some vibrio in the tank, who knows? With a recent study that's just been released about probiotics helping coral survive against climate change and other environmental damage, it's hopefully something we as hobbyist can implement in our systems to aid the healing and/or fight against the bad bacteria/pathogens that cause TN.
Probiotics boost coral survival.

 

[minus9]

Well, sold a bunch of frags and mini colonies, so I’m gaining some room back. My alk has increased slightly, but not crazy high, just hovering around 9dkh. One positive side effect of dosing all of the different bacteria is the reduction of nutrients. Nitrates have always been the same, just under 1ppm, but my phosphates this morning tested at .02. I kinda freaked out a little, but I’m not gonna panic, just feed a little more. Also scored another used deltec 1351 today for $60. Has an aquabee pump and an extra cup. Now cleaning the skimmer will be as simple as swapping out for the other. Plus, it’s good to know I have a backup, just in case.
The bad news is that one of my tropical dreams colony is pretty much toast. I think it’s time for a beer or twelve? :mad:

 

[drawman]

Well, sold a bunch of frags and mini colonies, so I’m gaining some room back. My alk has increased slightly, but not crazy high, just hovering around 9dkh. One positive side effect of dosing all of the different bacteria is the reduction of nutrients. Nitrates have always been the same, just under 1ppm, but my phosphates this morning tested at .02. I kinda freaked out a little, but I’m not gonna panic, just feed a little more. Also scored another used deltec 1351 today for $60. Has an aquabee pump and an extra cup. Now cleaning the skimmer will be as simple as swapping out for the other. Plus, it’s good to know I have a backup, just in case.
The bad news is that one of my tropical dreams colony is pretty much toast. I think it’s time for a beer or twelve? :mad:

Woah on the $60 pickup. That's an amazing find!

 

[minus9]

Woah on the $60 pickup. That's an amazing find!

Right? I found it on a local FB group. Someone was looking for a skimmer for their 100g and the guy offered it up and no one jumped on it, so I reached out to him and the rest is, well, a pretty awesome deal. Even if it didn’t work, just having spare parts and a body was enough.

 

[minus9]

I haven't kept this fish since the 90's and it's always been one of my top ten fish to keep. Special thanks to Elliot from @GoldenStateCorals who gave me this little gal. She was super skinny when I got her and feared my flow would make her burn more energy than she had, but given my pod population, she didn't have to really search for food. 4 or 5 days later, her concave tummy was starting to expand and her skeleton which was quite noticeable started to get lost behind all of her pod weight. The benefits of dosing phyto and zooplankton 24/7, pods galore.

 

[minus9]

Woke up this morning to a mess. The acro that had been slowly withering away, finally decided to let go. The brown goo wiped out half of my pink lemonade and started to go after my orange acro. Ugh!

 

[minus9]

Tropical dreams gone and my pink lemonade is toast. I fragged 3 small branches, but my guess is they'll go too? My big orange acro is stressed out big time and the part that's next to the dead TD was zapped. Why is it that I want to strip this tank down and start over? I really can't stand to lose any animals like this. Especially growing everything from tiny frags. I'm swamped with work right now, so I can only do so much. :mad:

 

[minus9]

I finally have an answer to my TN issues, red bugs (or one of their counterparts). Time to track down some interceptor and get this treated. @Smite offered me some help in that department, so I know I can get some soon. The trick is to catch my pistol shrimps, emeralds and the handful of hermits. I might pull my urchins too? Just have to figure out what to do with my chaeto, as I would like to preserve some pods, but I also don't want to re-infect my tank. I also have a ton of l mini brittle stars, so this is going to be tricky to nail down the exact dosage, as to not over do it and wipe out all of my micro fauna. I need to incorporate Adam's @Battlecorals protocol for dipping. Apparently my regime isn't good enough.
Also, I discovered that my Deltec was leaking some stray voltage, so I was able to buy a pump from Adam @Battlecorals, which helps me extend the life of the skimmer. I'm glad I have two skimmer bodies now and soon a brand new pump. Huge shout out to Adam for having the pump on hand. Just sucks that my first order from @Battlecorals was a pump and not some awesome sps. Acro eating bugs suck!

 

[Smite]

They do suck!
My urchin survived and my large brittle starfish. Snails were fine but I lost all my hermits. I also haven’t really seen a pod population since dosing interceptor.

sorry to hear but simultaneously glad you’ve found the cause and will be able to treat it.

 

[drawman]

I finally have an answer to my TN issues, red bugs (or one of their counterparts). Time to track down some interceptor and get this treated. @Smite offered me some help in that department, so I know I can get some soon. The trick is to catch my pistol shrimps, emeralds and the handful of hermits. I might pull my urchins too? Just have to figure out what to do with my chaeto, as I would like to preserve some pods, but I also don't want to re-infect my tank. I also have a ton of l mini brittle stars, so this is going to be tricky to nail down the exact dosage, as to not over do it and wipe out all of my micro fauna. I need to incorporate Adam's @Battlecorals protocol for dipping. Apparently my regime isn't good enough.
Also, I discovered that my Deltec was leaking some stray voltage, so I was able to buy a pump from Adam @Battlecorals, which helps me extend the life of the skimmer. I'm glad I have two skimmer bodies now and soon a brand new pump. Huge shout out to Adam for having the pump on hand. Just sucks that my first order from @Battlecorals was a pump and not some awesome sps. Acro eating bugs suck!

Curious on this protocol. Does he dip with interceptor?

 

[minus9]

Curious on this protocol. Does he dip with interceptor?

He used to use Bayer, but since moved to PolypLab Primer/UWC Expel combo. I believe he outlines his regime on his sponsor page here. BattleCorals Dipping Regime

 

[drawman]

He used to use Bayer, but since moved to PolypLab Primer/UWC Expel combo. I believe he outlines his regime on his sponsor page here. BattleCorals Dipping Regime

I just wonder if any of it is any better for red/black/white bugs. Would be nice to know that interceptor isn't the only option

 

[minus9]

I just wonder if any of it is any better for red/black/white bugs. Would be nice to know that interceptor isn't the only option

Interceptor is the only in tank option, but agree that having something else as a dip is a plus.

 

[minus9]

Despite dealing with pests and TN, things are still growing in this tank. There's still a lot of work to do, but I'm kinda moving forward, so I'll take what I can at this point.

 

[MamReef]

Hi minus9,
I really like cube tanks and in your case, a shallow one! Really great sps (Acroporas ) and nice what you did with the landscape.
Hope you can go over the redbugs issue. I´m also a Kessil fan and I have been using them since 2012. Still using old models like the 350N and 350W, with a couple of 360x, T5 and GNC bars.
Can you please tell me the settings and intensity that you are using on the 360x´s ?
Thanks.

 

[minus9]

Hi minus9,
I really like cube tanks and in your case, a shallow one! Really great sps (Acroporas ) and nice what you did with the landscape.
Hope you can go over the redbugs issue. I´m also a Kessil fan and I have been using them since 2012. Still using old models like the 350N and 350W, with a couple of 360x, T5 and GNC bars.
Can you please tell me the settings and intensity that you are using on the 360x´s ?
Thanks.

Thank you, I appreciate the kind words.
I believe this is my current schedule.
I don't use green or red, but I crank the violet during peak hours.
Time>Int>Color>Violet
7:55 - 0 - 0 - 0
10:00 - 85 - 25 - 100
14:00 - 95 - 30 - 100
16:00 - 95 - 30 - 100
18:00 - 85 - 25 - 100
20:05 - 0 - 0 - 0
I think this is what it is currently? I might have bumped up the 10 & 6 points to 90% or 92%? Once the lights come on, I'll flip through the schedule quickly to confirm. The Orphek's are on from 9am to 7pm. I also want to remove the lenses from the Orphek's to get better spread from them, since they're mounted closer than what they should be.
I want to redo my canopy in 80/20 T slot, which will allow me to use swivel mounts for the kessil's and give me the opportunity to angle the outside corner lights in a little. Also, I can position each light over the islands better.
I'm doing the last treatment of interceptor tomorrow night, then I need to order some pods to replenish their population. I still have larger pods in there, but the smallest red/yellow bugs are gone. I'm going to move some coral out of the tank that I don't want after the final treatment. The green rhodactis rock will be the first to go, then I'll move over some hammers and caulastrea.
I have a tall 35g tank set up in the dining room, which is holding some old school fiji live rock. This tank will be transferred to my 25g lagoon build. I might start another thread for that tank or just include it here? I haven't made up my mind yet.