Paul’s Rubbermaid Reef

[Charlie’s Frags]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing the pic too. I have never seen algae like this either it’s kinda disturbing given how big it is.
Here is mine with the flash on and blue lights on in the tank. I think they are all pretty similar some were nicer than others. I chose this one because it looked to have more pinks and orange and purples in it and the tips were not glowing blue in the blue light pic.
The frag next to it is the piece of my red staghorn I got back from a buddy finally. That stag is just amazing and I can’t wait for it to grow out again. I saw the colony I posted earlier at my friends house last week and it’s just stunning with huge fat red branches, some green polyps and yellows coming in on the lower coralites. Defiantly a monster red stag, not like most red “stags” that have made it into the hobby.

Now we wait

 

[Graffiti Spot]

And the algae is maybe codium. I have never heard of it being a problem like this plus I can’t find much info on this stuff. Looks like I will be pulling it out with the bubble algae weekly and hope for the best like always

 

[Brandon McHenry]

I have been seeing a new algae or plant pop up in a number of spots in my tank. It grows really quick and is quite annoying. I have never dealt with something like this and hope it doesn’t become a problem because bubble algae is enough work for me to deal with. It’s dark green and looks like codium from the pics I have seen but it branches a lot and grows from one spot outward. It’s base is really tough to break in order to remove it and doesn’t fully come out and just regrows. Trying to find an ID on it if anyone is familiar please speak up. It must have came in on some indo plugs or on the Florida cultured rock but that’s only been in for two months.

The hanging frags are acclimating ok but I am having trouble getting them to stay in place and need to find a better knot to tie the to the main string with. I picked up a few indo pieces from asd one being a cool Florida I haven’t grown and always wanted to grow and I even picked up one of the crazy expensive tenuis they had. They all came in fairly rough but should be ok after a month or so hopefully. The tenuis is very cool and I am curious how it will turn out since I haven’t tried this color variant before. It’s got some nice orange and pinks in it. Even the standard looking ones normally turn pretty nice. I will include pics of the algae if anyone can ID it and I will throw in a pic of the tenuis they took under all blues. Hopefully it does well under this bright white lights.
There are a few pieces that are having a hard time adjusting to the new ushio bulbs, but I think I just need to lower my alk and things should perk up. I am also fighting detritus in some spots and am thinking about replacing the weak reefbreeders pumps with mp40s or an mp60 since they are just sitting here collecting dust. I am still just letting things go. A few corals are touching but I am going to let them touch and see how things turn out. I lost a few pieces in the rocks and a couple didn’t take to the new light and nutrient drop and died. I am just assuming that was the cause.

This is the asd pic they took before it came to me. Mine will be much different I am sure... anyone who got some of these tenuis recently I would love to see some pics, feel free to post them here.

Here is the “algae” I am dealing with...

Definitely looks like a codium species to me, especially given that the rock came from Florida. I hope it doesn’t become too much of an issue!

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Well it’s odd because the rocks only been in the tank for two months and none of the Florida rock have any of this stuff on it. It’s all over my old rocks in places where maybe mariculture plugs were? Or can it spawn? I dunno, I am about to try and find some info in some of our old books but online has nothing. It looks like the short species of codium.
Looking online there are 44 species of codium . Looks like it may be hard to figure which one this is. I am just going to keep manual removal going and see how it goes. It’s a very dark color because of the amount of light it’s getting a high. Just not sure how it’s spreading and rooting in so many areas. It’s even in my skimmer body

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Here is my long rant for the month...

This tank just won’t kick into gear for me. I like the simple approach but I am having a hard time keeping detritus out of the tank and the codium is just growing sooo fast it’s making me think something’s not right. I actually thought about putting the tunze cheato reactor back on the tank and putting the codium in that to see if it helps. Every two weeks I have to pull out what feels like 10 “little” bush colonies and lots of little patches starting to sprout up. I have NEVER heard of this stuff growing in a reef tank like this. It’s even got a spot growing in my skimmer on the side getting light. I thought about getting a few urchins to see if they help but I never have luck with the tuxedo urchins surviving long. I am wondering if the little cone snails that eat big snails eat urchins too since I have such bad luck with them. Those things are the reason I can’t keep a decent snail population. If anyone has good suggestions on which urchins to try please let me know. I was thinking the short spine ones with nubby spines or the purple short spine urchins? Maybe I will get a mix of them and just see which ones work.

So the codium is annoying but bubble algae has always been something I have to keep in check too and it’s getting to be a bit much. On top of that I started noticing rtn like I was having when I first transitioned into this tank which sucks and I can’t pinpoint exactly what is going on. One piece a week randomly dies, although some were new and maybe on their way from shipping stress? But I think detritus is the main thing starting the rtn. That and I again let my rodi filters go to long and tds was 2... I stopped using the sponge power and pohls extra in case it was boosting the codium growth somehow and I wasn’t really seeing any benifits from it this time. I am letting all and calcium drop lower to see if it helps. I have always hated dosing pumps and am tempted to glue my calcium reactor together if I can get things back on track. I slightly lowered my carbon dose too and nutrients have been steady at about 1 nitrates and .03 po4. But the algae growing in the tanks telling a different story for sure...

I think I need to just dig out my vortech pumps for one because the reefbreeders pumps are junk and I believe detritus is the main issue. I have wanted to incorporate filter socks into the tank somehow but can’t figure out how without adding a separate tank. Having a sock on the skimmer exit just fills up daily and I am not trying to add a bunch of equipment to keep up with. I really just need to pull everything out and catch a few fish because I have way to many...

I also started noticing mesenterial filaments on some pieces that are probably getting too much light, I feel like part of this is the water has a lot off stuff floating around in it and a couple acropora are just better off in lower light. I initially thought maybe a pest was messing with the acros but I can’t find anything. I have a lot of work cut out for me to get this tank into shape, the whole not looking at it but once a week thing might have started to be a bad thing now and I might have to change my approach with this tank...

Anyone have luck with urchins other than tuxedo and black longspine? Preferably something small would be best. I am actually starting to contemplate getting a bunch of hermits...

 

[SeaDweller]

I have been seeing a new algae or plant pop up in a number of spots in my tank. It grows really quick and is quite annoying. I have never dealt with something like this and hope it doesn’t become a problem because bubble algae is enough work for me to deal with. It’s dark green and looks like codium from the pics I have seen but it branches a lot and grows from one spot outward. It’s base is really tough to break in order to remove it and doesn’t fully come out and just regrows. Trying to find an ID on it if anyone is familiar please speak up. It must have came in on some indo plugs or on the Florida cultured rock but that’s only been in for two months.

The hanging frags are acclimating ok but I am having trouble getting them to stay in place and need to find a better knot to tie the to the main string with. I picked up a few indo pieces from asd one being a cool Florida I haven’t grown and always wanted to grow and I even picked up one of the crazy expensive tenuis they had. They all came in fairly rough but should be ok after a month or so hopefully. The tenuis is very cool and I am curious how it will turn out since I haven’t tried this color variant before. It’s got some nice orange and pinks in it. Even the standard looking ones normally turn pretty nice. I will include pics of the algae if anyone can ID it and I will throw in a pic of the tenuis they took under all blues. Hopefully it does well under this bright white lights.
There are a few pieces that are having a hard time adjusting to the new ushio bulbs, but I think I just need to lower my alk and things should perk up. I am also fighting detritus in some spots and am thinking about replacing the weak reefbreeders pumps with mp40s or an mp60 since they are just sitting here collecting dust. I am still just letting things go. A few corals are touching but I am going to let them touch and see how things turn out. I lost a few pieces in the rocks and a couple didn’t take to the new light and nutrient drop and died. I am just assuming that was the cause.

This is the asd pic they took before it came to me. Mine will be much different I am sure... anyone who got some of these tenuis recently I would love to see some pics, feel free to post them here.

Here is the “algae” I am dealing with...

I’ve had that algae in the past. It’s really tough and slippery right? I’m not sure how it went away, but I haven’t dealt with it in years.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Have you tried the variegated sea urchin? I haven’t had any experience with co-sign but I’ve had good luck with these urchins. I’m also not sure where to get them but you could always try a Tripneustes urchin, also called a sea egg. They get very large and may mow down larger and tougher algae. Sorry to hear about the issues! And if you can get the vortechs on there in the NTM that may help with detritus.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Yea that’s a perfect description seadweller. You know normally things in my tanks do just go away, that’s why I thought about putting it in the cheato reactor to see if it will just grow in there and maybe one day I can remove it with no issues.

Brandon, I haven’t tried anything but tuxedos so I am clueless about them really. I will check out those suggestions and am thinking a mix will be best. My main thought was the short spines that are ten bucks on live aquaria are from the Caribbean so maybe they are used to this algae if it came from the new rocks.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Yea that’s a perfect description seadweller. You know normally things in my tanks do just go away, that’s why I thought about putting it in the cheato reactor to see if it will just grow in there and maybe one day I can remove it with no issues.

Brandon, I haven’t tried anything but tuxedos so I am clueless about them really. I will check out those suggestions and am thinking a mix will be best. My main thought was the short spines that are ten bucks on live aquaria are from the Caribbean so maybe they are used to this algae if it came from the new rocks.

Mixed herbivores are always best for these more uncommon species of algae. The lytechinus I think are a good choice since they are found here in Florida and the Caribbean and have seen them eat different types of algae and may be likely to try the codium since that can be found here as well.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

So I ordered a few different urchins and some turbos and stopped dosing the big three. Alk has went up since the rtn started so something was off. I am just hoping the pyramid snails don’t eat the urchins. I am going to keep cleaning bubble algae and codium weekly and start doing weekly water changes religiously again. I had really been slacking on any kind of frequent water changes.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

So I ordered a few different urchins and some turbos and stopped dosing the big three. Alk has went up since the rtn started so something was off. I am just hoping the pyramid snails don’t eat the urchins. I am going to keep cleaning bubble algae and codium weekly and start doing weekly water changes religiously again. I had really been slacking on any kind of frequent water changes.

Love to hear how it all turns out. Keep us posted. I’m sure you will get it all under control!

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Yea I did a 50 gallon with a 100 gallon sump at my parents house in their basement. I wasn’t living there so that made it a little tricky but eventually I brought it all home and broke it down because I couldn’t find the time.

This is a coral I have had for a long time that was in the tub coloring up at the time. It gets a nice blue in the tips under really strong 10k light and the branches would run pink towards the end. These days it looks a little different and has a bit more purple. I have wanted to run 10k bulbs on this tank but didn’t want to see that bright of a white light out of the corner of my eyes.

Hey there, do you have any details on how you plumbed this 50g tank? Maybe some closeups on the overflow? I have one now that I'm trying to set up, can't quite figure out the best way to drill it or set up an overflow.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I just used a uniseal and 1.5” pipe stubbed through the side with a tee on the back and some mesh over the intake from what I remember. I don’t have any other pics of that tank right now. I would use two so it has an emergency if your going that way.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Well I let things go for to long with this tank. I broke it down in the hopes of moving to florida. I gave everything to a friend and am hoping he can save some of it. The sponge population was still pretty strong when I broke down and I took a few cool pics. Unfortunately nothing was worth taking pictures of coral wise. I pulled huge clumps of that green finger algae and bryopsis too.
I am sorry to everyone for not signing on for a while though. I finally made the decision to move to florida and things have been very busy since. I am so ready to find a new place with room to do what I want with aquariums. No set area yet, though I am searching for a job all over florida but we will be starting a little farm it seems. So hopefully we will be ready to move in a month.
This blue sponge was huge like 8" by 6" the others didn't look as healthy as they once did though. I think something happened and it affected them and that's why things would not bounce back. Probably the carbon source running out. If any of the corals live I will ask my friend for an update.

 

[t5Nitro]

@Graffiti Spot
How high did your phosphates measure in this setup? I'm measuring 0.59 ppm this morning by Hanna checker in my 150. Guess it's time for some water changes.

Probably will add some macro algae at some point to help out.

 

[OfficeReefer]

That's a huge protein skimmer....

 

[SPS2020]

That's a huge protein skimmer....

Here it is as a baby...

 

[Graffiti Spot]

@Graffiti Spot
How high did your phosphates measure in this setup? I'm measuring 0.59 ppm this morning by Hanna checker in my 150. Guess it's time for some water changes.

Probably will add some macro algae at some point to help out.

Hey thanks for pulling this out of a ditch! So my po4 in this system was normally .0-.04 from what I remember. Using a Hanna checker. Those sponges pretty much filtered whatever I put in the tank, I think if I had more water volume and more fish it would have thrived and maybe the codium wouldn’t have been such a pain at the end. I ended up giving everything to a buddy to try and save so I could move down to Florida.

Office reefer, yea and it was fed with a mag 18 and a mazzei injector too. I have always had huge skimmers but always provided them with something to work with. (Lots of food and fish) I think I am going to reuse it on my tank I am setting up now along with the lights. Oh and a kind old club member in dc sold the skimmer to me for 30 bucks.

sps2020 what pump is that one being ran on?