Our 75 gal build

[OldRed1]

Here is a much more in depth thread on R2R if you are interested: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/smartphone-camera-filter-comparison.634162/

 

[Dani305]

Here is a much more in depth thread on R2R if you are interested: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/smartphone-camera-filter-comparison.634162/

Thanks I will check it out. Just wanting something simple so take some great photos to share with ym friends, who dont really care about my tank but enjoy seeing the pics. lol

 

[Dani305]

A sad update this morning My first tank loss.

My diamond goby, Stanley jumped through a small (pinky sized) gap in my top.

May he RIP.

 

[Dani305]

I forgot to update last weekend.

Went to the LFS for some things... tested the water, and my phos was a bit down which explains my goni/avo not flourishing! So purchased a few dosing bottles : alk, magnesium, and calcium.

Also purchased a PH buffer

Aside from that... I finally got my Flame Hawkfish!! Also got an urchin. of course got two corals lol. I got a firework clove, and also a pink goni/avo!

Some pics!

Aside from that, everything is well and seems happy.


03/05/22 $250.77

Flame Hawkfish: $80
Urchin: $25
Firework clove: $20
Goni/ avo: $20

the rest was food, water, and dosing maerials.

 

[Dani305]

Here is a much more in depth thread on R2R if you are interested: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/smartphone-camera-filter-comparison.634162/

I got my lenses!

 

[OldRed1]

@Dani305 Wow! Those look like they are working great!

 

[Dani305]

@Dani305 Wow! Those look like they are working great!

Yes thanks for your help! They are the amazon ones that you linked. Very happy with em.

 

[OldRed1]

Yes thanks for your help! They are the amazon ones that you linked. Very happy with em.

Great to know, because I'll likely swing back to order some myself. Forgive me for not remembering, but do you take your photographs on a cellphone or on a DSLR? I'll probably buy a set for both my iPhone but also for my Nikon.

 

[Dani305]

Great to know, because I'll likely swing back to order some myself. Forgive me for not remembering, but do you take your photographs on a cellphone or on a DSLR? I'll probably buy a set for both my iPhone but also for my Nikon.

I have an iphone 13 pro

I think they come out great! Granted I am still learning. lol

 

[Dani305]

Little tank update!

Sad news to start... My Diamond goby Stanley sadly somehow managed to squeeeze himself, and he was a big one, through a pretty thin gap in my top. Super upsetting to find him laying right on the top. Didnt even make it to the floor.

It was interesting though as my dog, Chase woke me up for what I thought was to go outside. He ended up walking around sniffing the air, and just seemed like he smelled something. I was in a sleep haze so I was barely conscious. I wonder if he smelled the goby, or heard him. I guess well never know but if that happens again Ill be sure to peek at the tank.

Montes are not doing well, and I dont know why... going to do some research on them....My goni, the white one is just not doing well... I dosed the tank to bring up alk, and seemed to perk a bit just as I got the other goni, but then we put both in the sand, and the pink one looks good, and the white just looked pretty bad, couldnt see anything inside the skeleton.

Anyways, I got them out of the sand because my diamond goby. and put them somewhere else and the pink came out more, but not much and the white... looked dead!

So, I decided one more change of location and the pink gonie came out right away thankfully and the other, I put in a shaded spot as one last go... but I am not optimistic.

My parameters were / are :

alk 9.2
kh 8
cal 20/ 400
0 phos

Nitrates have been steady at about 20 , so I didnt test this time... Ill test again probably this weekend.


Aside from that I have some cyno or something in my fuge. I dont have any wavemaker in there yet. I have actually purchased a new RedSead wave maker and it should arrive next week wednesday. Then Ill move one of my smaller wave makers to the refugium. I also purchased some miracle mud, and have started to get that going.

on 03/19 we went to the LFS store and my parameters were:

alk 147
ph 7.9
phos 0
ca 408
mg 1274
ammo 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 31



Got this coral for $50, its a pretty good size in my opinion. I ddint grab the name, so if anyone knows what it is, let me know.

Aside from that I purchased a new Diamond Goby, Stanley Jr. and he is smaller and younger. I am making sure that the gaps are closed!

I also purchased another urchin as well.


Spent $120 for all. I have already updated the cost post that i made, if anyones interested : https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/our-75-gal-build.883745/#post-9762347

and I just added it up... $4087.00 ;Greedy;Nailbiting;Muted;Wacky;Woot;Wideyed

All other corals are doing well.. I think

 

[OldRed1]

Are you intentionally keeping your phosphate at zero? From what I have read elsewhere on R2R, it seems common to keep phosphate between 0.3 - 1.0 ppm. Could that be impacting the vitality of your montes and gonis?

 

[Dani305]

Are you intentionally keeping your phosphate at zero? From what I have read elsewhere on R2R, it seems common to keep phosphate between 0.3 - 1.0 ppm. Could that be impacting the vitality of your montes and gonis?

No not doing anything on purpose! Hmmmm I am getting the HANNA phosphate checker this weekend. It took more than a week to deliver.

My LFS didnt say anything about it tho. He did say that the gonis like to be at 8-9 alk.

On March 5, my alk was 104 or under 6.0 dkh, which was low. So I was advised to dose, and raise... which is what I did. On March 19 my alk was 147 which is about 8.0 dkh. When I first dosed, the white goni improved. I did dose again one more time...I think then it started declining.

I tested the alk again March 22 (Tuesday) on my Hanna Alk tester and I was at 9.2.

Maybe the swing was too much?

 

[dvgyfresh]

Every living thing needs phosphate, a reading of 0 is not good and would be causing stress / coral issues, the hanna is a great buy! I’m guessing you do have phosphate but something is sucking it up before corals get to enjoy / use. Maybe less refugium light time to allow corals to get nutrient and feed more pellets / nori just my 2c , I’m no expert or anything lol

 

[OldRed1]

No not doing anything on purpose! Hmmmm I am getting the HANNA phosphate checker this weekend. It took more than a week to deliver.

My LFS didnt say anything about it tho. He did say that the gonis like to be at 8-9 alk.

On March 5, my alk was 104 or under 6.0 dkh, which was low. So I was advised to dose, and raise... which is what I did. On March 19 my alk was 147 which is about 8.0 dkh. When I first dosed, the white goni improved. I did dose again one more time...I think then it started declining.

I tested the alk again March 22 (Tuesday) on my Hanna Alk tester and I was at 9.2.

Maybe the swing was too much?

I wish I had the experience to respond confidently. Unfortunately, I am still very new to this hobby and so can only offer what feedback I have read elsewhere. moved with frequency. It could be that the chemical swings have made the gonis unhappy, and it could also be the case that moving them in the tank is causing some unhappiness as well. You may consider letting them settle where they are until you have a consistent dosing pattern, and then trying to move them again if they are still unhappy.

Based on what I read on R2R, I created a table of parameters for the tank. I wonder what your LFS would say about these values?

 

[Dani305]

Every living thing needs phosphate, a reading of 0 is not good and would be causing stress / coral issues, the hanna is a great buy! I’m guessing you do have phosphate but something is sucking it up before corals get to enjoy / use. Maybe less refugium light time to allow corals to get nutrient and feed more pellets / nori just my 2c , I’m no expert or anything lol

I will adjust the light in the fuge! ....I feed two times a day... either bloodworms, or missis, and maybe some of this mix conch, and fish pieces. Then I throw in pellets one of those feeding times. I feed phyto every few days. Also I have some small fish which I think are smelts and I feed my shrimp and emerald crabs, cuc with that every few days.

I recently, last week purchased nori, but all the fish are afraid of it.. I have put a 4''x4'' square in twice so far. I think once it falls apart some of the fish eat it.


Im still waiting for my phos hanna checker... so annoying... I ordered it on the 14th! I hope to get some better results than my at home api test kit.

What other ways to increase the phos?

 

[Dani305]

I wish I had the experience to respond confidently. Unfortunately, I am still very new to this hobby and so can only offer what feedback I have read elsewhere. moved with frequency. It could be that the chemical swings have made the gonis unhappy, and it could also be the case that moving them in the tank is causing some unhappiness as well. You may consider letting them settle where they are until you have a consistent dosing pattern, and then trying to move them again if they are still unhappy.

Based on what I read on R2R, I created a table of parameters for the tank. I wonder what your LFS would say about these values?

Thank you! Its so funny that right after I responded to your post I searched "What are the ideal tank parameters?" LOL

I landed in this thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/what-are-your-ideal-tank-parameters.856998/


I will head to my LFS tomorrow. Im going to print yours out and continue reading a bit and then see what they say.

I told my bf to not move them too much and we really tried, but then the goby covered them in sand. lol It was soo much!

 

[OldRed1]

I did a similar search at one point, and I managed to stumble on this article: https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/tank-parameters-of-some-masters.263/

I found this to be very helpful because it goes into great depth about just how different "healthy" parameters can be across different reefs. Just goes to show how the parameters that work for one system can seem out of whack for another!

 

[dvgyfresh]

I will adjust the light in the fuge! ....I feed two times a day... either bloodworms, or missis, and maybe some of this mix conch, and fish pieces. Then I throw in pellets one of those feeding times. I feed phyto every few days. Also I have some small fish which I think are smelts and I feed my shrimp and emerald crabs, cuc with that every few days.

I recently, last week purchased nori, but all the fish are afraid of it.. I have put a 4''x4'' square in twice so far. I think once it falls apart some of the fish eat it.


Im still waiting for my phos hanna checker... so annoying... I ordered it on the 14th! I hope to get some better results than my at home api test kit.

What other ways to increase the phos?

Ye mysis / worms are high in nitrate and low in phosphate that may be helping , I would add nori by putting it under a small rock so cuc can enjoy it as well. Fish will learn to eat it, takes some time. Can always dose neophos for phosphate , I would wait until you get yr Hanna for that. I run my tank 20-40 ppm nitrate , .1-.3 phosphate , alk 9-11, calc 450 , mg 1350. I like to keep nutrients elevated so everything has a chance to use it whenever it needs. It it every got too high I simply leave my refugium light on longer and change foods

 

[Dani305]

Ye mysis / worms are high in nitrate and low in phosphate that may be helping , I would add nori by putting it under a small rock so cuc can enjoy it as well. Fish will learn to eat it, takes some time. Can always dose neophos for phosphate , I would wait until you get yr Hanna for that. I run my tank 20-40 ppm nitrate , .1-.3 phosphate , alk 9-11, calc 450 , mg 1350. I like to keep nutrients elevated so everything has a chance to use it whenever it needs. It it every got too high I simply leave my refugium light on longer and change foods

Thank you for the suggestions! Nori for breakfast it will be.

 

[Dani305]

I was reading this thread yesterday night and I realized that I posted twice about the diamond goby tragedy and hawkfish purchase. Lol maybe I shouldn’t enjoy the devils lettuce before /during posting.

This morning put 2 caps phyto ( 1 in refugium / 1 in display tank ), blood worms, and also did 3 drops of my genesis bacteria. I used to put that every day but not I do it a few times a week.

I also wanted to put the nori in but don’t have a smallish rock in the tank… so I used my dead Goni skeleton. Lol

which leads me to… can I leave it in the tank or continue using it like this?