My 40g Cube I Throw $$ Into

[T-J]

Here's the light schedule I'm starting with. I'll adjust once corals, etc. are introduced into the tank. Based on a number of other Photon users, and the AB+ schedule, I'm using a 4:1 ratio. I also based some of the timing and moon lighting off of the actual sun/moon schedule in Fiji. Who knows, maybe it'll work...

 

[T-J]

Today I noticed that the water was considerably cloudy. Even the wife noticed, which means something is up.

Because of the recent addition of the lights, and the diatoms, I assume it’s a bacterial bloom. I put one of the little green UV sterilizers in there and will run for 24hrs to see if that does anything.

New skimmer arrives tomorrow, and it couldn’t have better timing! Otherwise everything appears to be doing well.
Parameters as of 12/31/19:



On a side note, does anyone know how to take decent pics under the LED lighting? I’m having issues of lines showing up in the pics due to the refresh rate of the LED lights. See below for an example.

 

[T-J]

So the new skimmer is installed and not doing much as it goes through it’s break in period. New ATO is up and running, so I’ll have to monitor the next few days.

I still have cloudy water. UV has been running for 24hrs and I’m not sure what’s going on. Put new carbon in today. Diatoms are almost gone, to which I attribute the UV sterilizer.

Any help on the cloudy water would be great! Just checked parameters again and ammonia was 0 and nitrate was 1.

 

[T-J]

Things continue to go relatively well in the cube.

New skimmer is working great. New surface skimmer fits perfectly into the overflow chamber and is keeping the top of the water crystal clear.
Water is still cloudy, even after the weekly water change. Others have suggested it’s due to my non-rinsed sand and that it could take months.

In the mean time, here’s a few color corrected pics taken with the Aquarium Cam app...

 

[WisconsinReefing]

So I tried aquarium cam as well. But by a mile the best thing was getting reef art lenses for my phone

Here are a couple of pics

 

[WisconsinReefing]

I asked once before, and it seems like your printed holder is working well. Any chance you’d be willing to sell one?

 

[T-J]

I asked once before, and it seems like your printed holder is working well. Any chance you’d be willing to sell one?

Actually it didn’t work. I have the surface skimmer in that first chamber instead, which works amazing!

 

[WisconsinReefing]

Actually it didn’t work. I have the surface skimmer in that first chamber instead, which works amazing!

The one that it came with??

 

[T-J]

The one that it came with??

No. Not protein skimmer. Surface skimmer. But I did replace the stock protein skimmer too. Getting rest skimmate from my Tunze 9001 in the third chamber. Took out two baskets and it fits just fine. Could probably leave three in there.

 

[WisconsinReefing]

No. Not protein skimmer. Surface skimmer. But I did replace the stock protein skimmer too. Getting rest skimmate from my Tunze 9001 in the third chamber. Took out two baskets and it fits just fine. Could probably leave three in there.

I have ceramic rings and bio balls in 2 of them, one has carbon and GFO and the other is a filter pad. Not sure what to take out. But I absolutely need a better skimmer

 

[T-J]

Small update today.
Looks like my water might be clearing up due to the UV sterilizer I put in. My skimmer has been pretty busy, so I’m not sure if it’s pulling out the dead bacterial bloom or ??
Everything continues to look great. The anemone hasn’t moved for a few days, but I’m kind of shock at where it decided to make its home. It’s almost completely shaded. I guess it’ll move If it’s not enough light.
Tomorrow I’ll be heading to the LFS to look for a Monti Cap. Always liked a nice shelf in my tanks. Also looking for something to grow on the back wall. Suggestions?
Finally, I made a screen top. I just ordered some clear mesh and bought an el cheapo window frame from Home Depot. A lot of hacksawing and presto, a top!

 

[T-J]

Just noticed that the areas of my glass that I missed while cleaning are covered in copepods! Saw the tiny white specks moving around. Must’ve came in as hitchhikers on the corals. Hopefully a sign of a nice healthy tank!

 

[T-J]

Some good news and questions.

I noticed that there is visible grown on one of the SPS frags! It’s been in the tank 10days, so I don’t know if the amount of growth is good or not, but it’s growth nonetheless.
At the base of the coral you can see
The lighter colored flesh. That’s the new growth. Also, this frags was very brown when I got it. Now the polyps are a beautiful green and it looks like the drag is turning green too. Time will tell.

We also added a Midas Blenny. I loved my Blennies in my other tank, so we had to have one. He found a really nice spot to call home. Oh, and he eats like a pig!

 

[T-J]

I’m now running a UV sterilizer 24/7 in the return pump area (this setup is an AIO).
Glass needs to be scraped every half hour! Not sure what’s going on but my glass gets covered as soon as I clean it. Rocks look ok but the glass is a mess when I come home. Ideas?
Also, I took the skimmer out for a minute to work on something and now it’s acting like I just put it in. Not skimming. Is this normal?

 

[Nick Steele]

Hey! My Nuvo 20 is currently going through the same glass issue you are. I can clean it before I leave for work and when I get home it’s dirty again. I attribute it to something with the cycle and I’m only cleaning the front glass now leaving the others to get covered.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

So I tried aquarium cam as well. But by a mile the best thing was getting reef art lenses for my phone

Here are a couple of pics

I was blown away how good those lens are, day and night.

 

[T-J]

Big update today!
Overall, the tank is doing just great. Except that ****** anemone. We put a shroom box in there yesterday with some LR and we were going to wrangle him into it when he does his nightly "death pinata" around the tank. Well wouldn't you know, he suddenly seems happy where he is...for now. Anyway...
The Seneye is installed and performing just fine. In addition to the Seneye, I also installed an InkBird WiFi heater controller. Seems to keep the temp within a +/- of .5 degrees for the most part.
New frags have been added as well. Along with some new CUC members.
First, some eye candy. I forgot what the first one is (an encrusting something), Frogspawn and pink Flowerpot (my wife calls them her pot of flowers).
Next post will have Seneye PAR readings and whatnot.

 

[T-J]

First, the PAR readings. Ignore the label on the pics, I accidentally labeled them all as "bottom". Basically I had 461 PAR at the top of the rocks, 275 PAR at the mid-level and around 109 PAR on the sand. With 461 right next to my highest acro in the tank, I now know that it is starting to bleach. I'll be adjusting my lighting down so I don't have to move all the corals around and abandon the top part of the tank.
I've also posted the Seneye readings on Ammonia, etc.

 

[T-J]

Tank continues to do great! (Hope I didn't jinx myself there)
Here's some of the updates:
I've ordered a new Jebao SLW-20 for the tank. Originally it was to supplement the gyere I have in there, but based on all of the reviews I've seen, it might be able to replace it altogether. While I love my Icecap, one of the issues with it in such a small tank is it's too linear. The water just shoots across the tank and goes in a clockwise circle. I'm hoping that the SLW will provide more random or wave types of patterns. Of course, if I keep both in there, I would aim them at each other and I think that would create a pretty random bit of flow. The SLW comes in tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have my answer tomorrow night.
I have been using my Seneye to monitor my PAR levels, and I mentioned in an earlier post, they were way higher than I imagined. I've now set a schedule over the next 6 weeks of lowering the lights to better levels. In the top of the tank I'm shooting for somewhere in that 250-350 range. And closer to 90-100 at the bottom.
When I first tested the lights, here's where PAR was:

This past Friday, I did my first light adjustment. Here's the current lighting readings:

If anyone has anything to say about the new lighting numbers, please feel free to post comments. I'm always willing to listen to the great people here at R2R! 20+ years in this hobby and still learning!

 

[T-J]

As soon as I posted that last update, I found a monti eating nudi. SMH. I was able to get it out of the tank, and it's been over 10 days and I haven't seen any others. I have a Monti Cap that I found it by, but thankfully it hasn't been glued down yet, so I was able to inspect it and didn't see any eggs or other nudis.
I've made my final (I hope) lighting adjustment, and it is now reflecting an AB+ schedule. Hoping that this will give me the growth and color I'm looking for. I'll take PAR readings in the next day, but I do expect them to be a bit on the higher end. Here is the new schedule: