My 85g reef experiment
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david p.
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thanks you.
Finally got these 2 for my 25gal LPS tank. Next fish to be added in the LPs system will be a group of Bernacle blennies, like 5-6 of them.
Daniel@R2R
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I see 4 of them...and they're twins! ;Smuggrin ;Photogenic ;Watchingthanks you.
Finally got these 2 for my 25gal LPS tank. Next fish to be added in the LPs system will be a group of Bernacle blennies, like 5-6 of them.
OP
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david p.
Well-Known Member
OP
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david p.
Well-Known Member
My tank is one year old today!!!! 
Before giving an actual update on my system and talk about the past year, i think i'll share the past few months... because believe it or not... i though i was crashing my tank, actually i would have killed all SPS if i continued what i was doing ... and all that because of me... Now that everything is coming back to normal, i feel better talking about it. But believe me i was not sleeping some nights.
If you went throught all the pictures and updates, you know that around chrismass time i decided to sell many of the birdnest, montipora, digitata and many other LPS and more common SPS. In January i sold all these corals, of course i was expecting a significant decrease in Alk and Ca consumption, so i tested daily and adjusted Alk-Ca dosage to keep as stable as i could.
Then later in Feb-march (i don't remember) i sold a bunch of other SPS that i wanted to replace by other vairety or better looking corals. Again, i tested daily for a certain period.
I typically maintain my Alk at 8,3 +/- 0,2. I do 5gal WC weekly, or 3 WC per 4 weeks on my system... i skip one once in a while. I condider to have a pretty solid routine for cleaning, dosing, stable parameters, etc.
In parallel to that, i wanted to increase my fish stock, starting by a pair of chalk bass late Januray. Did the TTM. Then a Labouti wrasse Late March, did the TTM. Then 6 Vanderbuilt chromis right after the Labouti. Don't worry about N and P, my nutrient export in robust... the issue is somewhere else...
So Early Jan i sell a bunch of SPS, then started the QT of my chalk bass with TTM, i usually use tank water from WC for the QT. I completed the first batch of fish, no issue. My alk is a little higher than usual, nothing crazy, but the trend is there, i'm around 8.6 and 9 during the last week of QT (testing daily). I remember having cut the Alk dosing by Half at some point, and alk was not decreasing. At that time, i was jsut cautious,though the raise was due to the SPS i sold in early Jan (football size Birst nest colony and others).
I was keeping my 5g WC weekly, Alk was pretty stable at 8.7.
Then late march i got my labouti wrasse (not long after i sold another bunch of SPS), TTM again then 1 more week QT (3 total) because my chromis were arriving. During my Labouti wrasse QT, i could see alk raising again and hitting 9.6-10.0, but i had just sold another bunch of SPS, thought it was still me dosing to much vs system consumption. i also started to see the first signs on some of my corals (center of colony losing color, not RTN, jsut white). I started to be really worried, i investigated a lot of stuff: dosing pump calibration, overdosing some product, contamiantion, Lights, GFO,... carbon... related or not i looked at a lot of potential root cause. I attributed the loss of color to low nutrient in a higher alk water. I had to recude alk or increase the nutrient while i find the cause of the Alk instability. I reduced photoperiod on cheato, reduce amount of cheato in refugium, removed GFO ( i was just running little amount), target feed coral more ( i was already doing 4 time/week).
Then i start the QT of my chromis, with TTM... My alk hit 11 dkh...... I was freaking out.... i jsut received a bunch of realy nice coral and something was ongoing that i did not understand...
UNTIL... i talked about a certain line of product for reef tank with a rep, we talked about baling, additive, salt, etc. We compared salt... most brand were listed... then i see mine..... Coral Pro salt... alk = 12............... WOW GENIUS!!! forgot that detail... when my system was doing well, i was only doing weekly WC and with my dosing it was pretty much balanced and i could maintain alk at 8.3 (even with a 5gal of water for WC at 12 dkh). But with several WC due to TTM + the few WC i had to do to siphon my sand... i ended up raising my Alk just by doing WC... i felt so stupid... i stopped doing WC for a while, then change salt for a brand that had a dkh around 7.5 then slowly reduce alk to that level. It has been more than a month now since i realized my mistake and stabilized my parameters again and i can see the color coming back and new growth with bright colors.
i had no loss of coral, but lost most of the 'pop' on certain coral and some colonies also got their base pretty bleached out. Growth seemed to be on hold from Feb-March to April. Only one colony RTN, but i was able to cut all branches and save most of it.. i was lucky, i still have what i consider a nice mini colony.. it was a random acro, no name.
Looking back at it, it seems so obvious that WC was the cause, but because the change happened on pretty long period and with many changes at the same time, I was unable to see that earlier.... i was more leaning toward the imbalance i created when i sold most of the big colonies.
No sure i'm the best story teller, but i tried to explain how i felt during this 'investigation'... ;Pompus
I think it's important to share the good and bads so we can learn...
I'll make an actual update of my build in the next post!!
Before giving an actual update on my system and talk about the past year, i think i'll share the past few months... because believe it or not... i though i was crashing my tank, actually i would have killed all SPS if i continued what i was doing ... and all that because of me... Now that everything is coming back to normal, i feel better talking about it. But believe me i was not sleeping some nights.
If you went throught all the pictures and updates, you know that around chrismass time i decided to sell many of the birdnest, montipora, digitata and many other LPS and more common SPS. In January i sold all these corals, of course i was expecting a significant decrease in Alk and Ca consumption, so i tested daily and adjusted Alk-Ca dosage to keep as stable as i could.
Then later in Feb-march (i don't remember) i sold a bunch of other SPS that i wanted to replace by other vairety or better looking corals. Again, i tested daily for a certain period.
I typically maintain my Alk at 8,3 +/- 0,2. I do 5gal WC weekly, or 3 WC per 4 weeks on my system... i skip one once in a while. I condider to have a pretty solid routine for cleaning, dosing, stable parameters, etc.
In parallel to that, i wanted to increase my fish stock, starting by a pair of chalk bass late Januray. Did the TTM. Then a Labouti wrasse Late March, did the TTM. Then 6 Vanderbuilt chromis right after the Labouti. Don't worry about N and P, my nutrient export in robust... the issue is somewhere else...
So Early Jan i sell a bunch of SPS, then started the QT of my chalk bass with TTM, i usually use tank water from WC for the QT. I completed the first batch of fish, no issue. My alk is a little higher than usual, nothing crazy, but the trend is there, i'm around 8.6 and 9 during the last week of QT (testing daily). I remember having cut the Alk dosing by Half at some point, and alk was not decreasing. At that time, i was jsut cautious,though the raise was due to the SPS i sold in early Jan (football size Birst nest colony and others).
I was keeping my 5g WC weekly, Alk was pretty stable at 8.7.
Then late march i got my labouti wrasse (not long after i sold another bunch of SPS), TTM again then 1 more week QT (3 total) because my chromis were arriving. During my Labouti wrasse QT, i could see alk raising again and hitting 9.6-10.0, but i had just sold another bunch of SPS, thought it was still me dosing to much vs system consumption. i also started to see the first signs on some of my corals (center of colony losing color, not RTN, jsut white). I started to be really worried, i investigated a lot of stuff: dosing pump calibration, overdosing some product, contamiantion, Lights, GFO,... carbon... related or not i looked at a lot of potential root cause. I attributed the loss of color to low nutrient in a higher alk water. I had to recude alk or increase the nutrient while i find the cause of the Alk instability. I reduced photoperiod on cheato, reduce amount of cheato in refugium, removed GFO ( i was just running little amount), target feed coral more ( i was already doing 4 time/week).
Then i start the QT of my chromis, with TTM... My alk hit 11 dkh...... I was freaking out.... i jsut received a bunch of realy nice coral and something was ongoing that i did not understand...
UNTIL... i talked about a certain line of product for reef tank with a rep, we talked about baling, additive, salt, etc. We compared salt... most brand were listed... then i see mine..... Coral Pro salt... alk = 12............... WOW GENIUS!!! forgot that detail... when my system was doing well, i was only doing weekly WC and with my dosing it was pretty much balanced and i could maintain alk at 8.3 (even with a 5gal of water for WC at 12 dkh). But with several WC due to TTM + the few WC i had to do to siphon my sand... i ended up raising my Alk just by doing WC... i felt so stupid... i stopped doing WC for a while, then change salt for a brand that had a dkh around 7.5 then slowly reduce alk to that level. It has been more than a month now since i realized my mistake and stabilized my parameters again and i can see the color coming back and new growth with bright colors.
i had no loss of coral, but lost most of the 'pop' on certain coral and some colonies also got their base pretty bleached out. Growth seemed to be on hold from Feb-March to April. Only one colony RTN, but i was able to cut all branches and save most of it.. i was lucky, i still have what i consider a nice mini colony.. it was a random acro, no name.
Looking back at it, it seems so obvious that WC was the cause, but because the change happened on pretty long period and with many changes at the same time, I was unable to see that earlier.... i was more leaning toward the imbalance i created when i sold most of the big colonies.
No sure i'm the best story teller, but i tried to explain how i felt during this 'investigation'... ;Pompus
I think it's important to share the good and bads so we can learn...
I'll make an actual update of my build in the next post!!
OP
OP
david p.
Well-Known Member
ok... now the real update...
Tank is 1 year old. I have to admit, i'm addicted ;Drool;Greedy;Nailbiting;Nurse;Snaphappy
I have been in aquariums for a long time... moslty fresh water, high tech tank. but with a reef, wow... Fresh water is amazing, don't get me wrong, but when you have to maintain your garden by trimming almost daily... it's a lot of work. With a reef, you have time to watch it grow... it's slow... but who cares! I still have a 65g Freshwater tank running... i feel ashame... i did not replenish CO2 since august-2016... stopped dosing .. most fragile plants all died... only low demanding plants survive
My current fish stock is:
- Kole tang
- 2x Midnight ocelaris
- Firefish
- Watchman gobby and pistol shrimp
- Red dragonet
- Scooter Bleeny
- Tail spot Blenny
- 2x Flame back angel
- 1x Chalk bass (one jump on my anti-suicide cover.. i still don't understand how he did it)
- 6 line wrasse
- Labouti wrasse
- 6x Vanderbuilt chromis
- Cleaner shrimp and Fireshrimp
In QT:
- 2x Blue star leopard wrasse
- 2x Ocelaris (from a friend who raise them!)... they will go in my 25g LPS system
On order:
- 5-6 Bernacle blennies (25g LPS system)
I try to get couples most of the time except for the Kole tang due to size and Labouti wrasse. I regret the scooter blenny, i would switch for a mandarin to get the couple.. but i still love him. I might get a second tail spot if i can get one. That will complete the list.
Over the past year, i have put a lot of effort on keeping a good maintenance routine, siphoning sand, WC, Testing. I have kept the big 3 pretty stable all year long exept for the little incicent discribe above. I'm still debating around keeping or not the sand. I love the look... but needs regular maintenance.. and it would give more room to grow corals, i have some chalice and Montipora that i would love to cover the bottom with.
I have reduce the use of GFO over the past few months, maybe since january, i don't remember. As of now, i only run carbon. N and P are still undetectable, but i compensate with target feeding my corals at least 4 times a week + amino acid and some supplement from Fauna Marin (Ultra bac, Ultra min, Ultra min S and D, Ultra organic and the 3x color element). I'm still dosing Reef Fusion, once i feel my system is back on track for a couple of months, i will do the transition to another product for Alk-Ca-Mg.
I run SPS AB+ at 65% currently, i reduced it recently to try to reduce the stress on corals because of my alk issue and low nutrient. i will slowly bring that back to 70-75% same as before.
i would say that my nutrient export method were pretty succesfull, i love my skimmer. Cheato was wonderfull with my lightning, i feel it makes my export method resilient to changes, feeding habits, maintenance, etc. I trim a 5 gal bucket per week.
Casuality wise... as any reefer (i guess) i lost a few along the road.
- Ricordea yuma, i tried twice on those orange yuma. for some reason they always ended up dying. even if kept low light-low flow and took the time to aclimate them. i have other variety of yuma without issues.
- Wellsophilia, i had a pretty nice wellso that i lost after a long battle, i was never certain of the culprit, but i believe it's a mix of too much flow, too much light, my angel nipping. I started my LPS system to late to save it.
- SPS, i did not lost any... but i killed a few.. i learned along the way that to much light can kill pretty fast(lost one.. yellow birdnest). Not enough light or flow can kill slowly (lost one colony... but saved ~10 frags, wild colony, and 1 more is between life and death!;Vamp) and lost a few for pore shipping condition (DOA) .
I lost 2 jumpers over the year, one ocelaris in the first months and my chalk bass a few weeks back, it jump on my tank cover.. i guess it deserve a Darwin award ;Hurting;Hurting
My 25g LPS syste... full of nice pieces... but i'm still unhappy with aquascape... so nothing for now. I have rainbow chalice, some pretty nice torches, a nice elegance, many rainbow acan, bowerbanki, favia, some ricordea yuma, and i forget a few.
SPS:
I'm pretty happy with my collection, growth and colloration were amazing until i screwed that up.
you can check my FB for pictures of about 85% of my corals:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.ph...02686804937.1073741836.100001656549253&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/profile.ph...17970136742.1073741837.100001656549253&type=3
i will post picture of growth and a video... i'm still filming at the moment!
Tank is 1 year old. I have to admit, i'm addicted ;Drool;Greedy;Nailbiting;Nurse;Snaphappy
I have been in aquariums for a long time... moslty fresh water, high tech tank. but with a reef, wow... Fresh water is amazing, don't get me wrong, but when you have to maintain your garden by trimming almost daily... it's a lot of work. With a reef, you have time to watch it grow... it's slow... but who cares! I still have a 65g Freshwater tank running... i feel ashame... i did not replenish CO2 since august-2016... stopped dosing .. most fragile plants all died... only low demanding plants survive
My current fish stock is:
- Kole tang
- 2x Midnight ocelaris
- Firefish
- Watchman gobby and pistol shrimp
- Red dragonet
- Scooter Bleeny
- Tail spot Blenny
- 2x Flame back angel
- 1x Chalk bass (one jump on my anti-suicide cover.. i still don't understand how he did it)
- 6 line wrasse
- Labouti wrasse
- 6x Vanderbuilt chromis
- Cleaner shrimp and Fireshrimp
In QT:
- 2x Blue star leopard wrasse
- 2x Ocelaris (from a friend who raise them!)... they will go in my 25g LPS system
On order:
- 5-6 Bernacle blennies (25g LPS system)
I try to get couples most of the time except for the Kole tang due to size and Labouti wrasse. I regret the scooter blenny, i would switch for a mandarin to get the couple.. but i still love him. I might get a second tail spot if i can get one. That will complete the list.
Over the past year, i have put a lot of effort on keeping a good maintenance routine, siphoning sand, WC, Testing. I have kept the big 3 pretty stable all year long exept for the little incicent discribe above. I'm still debating around keeping or not the sand. I love the look... but needs regular maintenance.. and it would give more room to grow corals, i have some chalice and Montipora that i would love to cover the bottom with.
I have reduce the use of GFO over the past few months, maybe since january, i don't remember. As of now, i only run carbon. N and P are still undetectable, but i compensate with target feeding my corals at least 4 times a week + amino acid and some supplement from Fauna Marin (Ultra bac, Ultra min, Ultra min S and D, Ultra organic and the 3x color element). I'm still dosing Reef Fusion, once i feel my system is back on track for a couple of months, i will do the transition to another product for Alk-Ca-Mg.
I run SPS AB+ at 65% currently, i reduced it recently to try to reduce the stress on corals because of my alk issue and low nutrient. i will slowly bring that back to 70-75% same as before.
i would say that my nutrient export method were pretty succesfull, i love my skimmer. Cheato was wonderfull with my lightning, i feel it makes my export method resilient to changes, feeding habits, maintenance, etc. I trim a 5 gal bucket per week.
Casuality wise... as any reefer (i guess) i lost a few along the road.
- Ricordea yuma, i tried twice on those orange yuma. for some reason they always ended up dying. even if kept low light-low flow and took the time to aclimate them. i have other variety of yuma without issues.
- Wellsophilia, i had a pretty nice wellso that i lost after a long battle, i was never certain of the culprit, but i believe it's a mix of too much flow, too much light, my angel nipping. I started my LPS system to late to save it.
- SPS, i did not lost any... but i killed a few.. i learned along the way that to much light can kill pretty fast(lost one.. yellow birdnest). Not enough light or flow can kill slowly (lost one colony... but saved ~10 frags, wild colony, and 1 more is between life and death!;Vamp) and lost a few for pore shipping condition (DOA) .
I lost 2 jumpers over the year, one ocelaris in the first months and my chalk bass a few weeks back, it jump on my tank cover.. i guess it deserve a Darwin award ;Hurting;Hurting
My 25g LPS syste... full of nice pieces... but i'm still unhappy with aquascape... so nothing for now. I have rainbow chalice, some pretty nice torches, a nice elegance, many rainbow acan, bowerbanki, favia, some ricordea yuma, and i forget a few.
SPS:
I'm pretty happy with my collection, growth and colloration were amazing until i screwed that up.
you can check my FB for pictures of about 85% of my corals:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.ph...02686804937.1073741836.100001656549253&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/profile.ph...17970136742.1073741837.100001656549253&type=3
i will post picture of growth and a video... i'm still filming at the moment!
OP
OP
david p.
Well-Known Member
I decided to try the AF product to see if i could improve the color and growth of my system. I was already transitionning for Red sea coral pro salt to AF Sea salt since my Alk incident. When this transition is completed, i will start introducing Ca-KH-Mg-ReefMineral. And after that the ABVE feeding from AF.
here are pic as reference to compare in a few months.
here are pic as reference to compare in a few months.
OP
OP
david p.
Well-Known Member
Awesome acro, you can practice shipping to Ontario when this one grows out
actually, many of my acro are from Toronto. from individual or shops.
OP
OP
david p.
Well-Known Member
i will make a new video soon.. .but ... i have issues in my system currently, since my alk spike back in Feb-March, i though i was on the right track since everything was stable for the past 3 months now. But in the past 4 weeks, i lost several acros. Most look ok, but some just look bad... I'm at a point where i think there is something else than the alk spike that is affecting my tank. Growth seems to be on hold... coloration is not as 'poping' as it was. I even stopped dosing Ca.... and it stays at 520-530...even WC wont decrease it... fresh water is 430.
As i tell my friend my first 10 months were way to good to me, did not lose any acro even the first one i got to try. got insane growth for 10 month, than made all those change in Jan-Feb, than my alk spike... i guess i created to many changes too fast... Anyway, it's part of the hobby!! i'm lucky, most of the signature coral i have seems not to be affected. the worst one is my Pink Lemonade, lost all its bright yellow... even turned grey in some area... but it's relatively common and easy to find.
So far i lost 2 wild acros frag/mini colonies, 4 colonies went RTN, but i managed to frag them and i think i might save them. My pink lemonade, red planet, hawkin echinata and red robin lost a lot of color. And my elegance is receding...
All the frags i added after the spike are doing well (confetti, CB maleficent, RR-wakatobi). The RR frags i got in January are doin well, only one seems to be affected, time will tell.
OP
OP
david p.
Well-Known Member
was sold to me as Cherry Bomb. one of my favorite acro. the pic is under heavy blu, but still a very nice piece. here'S an old day light pic. and yes under radions!
