Paul's return to the hobby
- Build Thread
- Thread starter littlebeard
- Start date
- Tagged users None
OP
OP
littlebeard
Active Member
This week I decided to do some more changes. Got a raise and bonus at work, so I splurged on some equipment. I got a cheap doser and a par sensor.
So the doser I'm still trying to get dialed in, hasn't been easy getting it to actually dose mostly because it's a cheap piece of Chinese junk and I can't understand the directions. I believe I properly calibrated it, but it didn't seem to dose at the time I specified... UGH... let's not talk about this.
The par sensor - SQ-420 Smart Original Quantum Sensor | USB Output
I've always wanted to do some sps corals, acro's in general have fascinated me. I bought the reefbreeder lights hoping that one day I would be there. I tried in my previous tank with t5's but didn't have much success. I had 8 t5's, but it was a deep tank and I never really knew if it was the light. Quantifying the light I feel will reduced some of the guess work so when I eventually purchase a few acros and kill them, I will at least be able to remove lighting as one of the suspects. It was interesting measuring the light to say the least. I found that I rather dislike my cheap aqueon 125(I'll blame covid for that bad decision) mostly because of the light that is blocked from the crossbeams. I know I could probably throw some t5's to reduce this issue, but I am going canopyless and I really don't want the added light pollution in the room(also why i went led's). Basically some of the rock shelves that I planned in my aquascape fall in the shadow which means that no acros can grow there. UGH!
I guess I'll need to get creative with the corals or redo the aquascape a bit.... I also found that I needed to raise my lights about 3-4 inches which gave me a better spread. The back will always have a little less light than that, but I'm ok with that, hopefully it will reduce the amount of coraline that grows on the back wall. I plan to ramp up my lights to max intensity so that I get around 200 par on the sandbed and 250 where I want to start placing some sps. I'll put some lps in the shady areas. I'm glad I bought the sensor, gives me a better feel on where to put corals. Over the next few weeks to a month I'll be slowly ramping up my lights to reach my peak (about 72% for some leds)
FLOW!
So in reading many posts about Cyno many people suggest increasing flow to reduce deadspots and it should prevent the cyno from forming. ... Well I'm going to have to call a little BS on that one. I put in a total of 4 powerheads so it was pretty darn close to a toilet bowl and the darn cyno still appeared.... It even appeared on the outflow of the powerheads! Well anyway, I wanted to place a birdsnest frag a little higher up for more light. I picked a good spot, however the flow was too high. So i tried turning down the extra powerheads I purchased. Still no good... changed their direction to deflect them... flow changed for the birdsnest, but caused a storm over the hammer corals. Tried to change the direction of the other powerheads... after back and forth and causing my hammers shrivel for the night I figured out the right flow. I need to pull out those extra powerheads. At least I have extras right?
Anyway, that's been my week in reefing. Below I thought I would show some corals that I've gotten over the past few months. There's a few frags in there for my ever expanding frag boneyard... I'll figure it out eventually right?
So the doser I'm still trying to get dialed in, hasn't been easy getting it to actually dose mostly because it's a cheap piece of Chinese junk and I can't understand the directions. I believe I properly calibrated it, but it didn't seem to dose at the time I specified... UGH... let's not talk about this.
The par sensor - SQ-420 Smart Original Quantum Sensor | USB Output
I've always wanted to do some sps corals, acro's in general have fascinated me. I bought the reefbreeder lights hoping that one day I would be there. I tried in my previous tank with t5's but didn't have much success. I had 8 t5's, but it was a deep tank and I never really knew if it was the light. Quantifying the light I feel will reduced some of the guess work so when I eventually purchase a few acros and kill them, I will at least be able to remove lighting as one of the suspects. It was interesting measuring the light to say the least. I found that I rather dislike my cheap aqueon 125(I'll blame covid for that bad decision) mostly because of the light that is blocked from the crossbeams. I know I could probably throw some t5's to reduce this issue, but I am going canopyless and I really don't want the added light pollution in the room(also why i went led's). Basically some of the rock shelves that I planned in my aquascape fall in the shadow which means that no acros can grow there. UGH!
I guess I'll need to get creative with the corals or redo the aquascape a bit.... I also found that I needed to raise my lights about 3-4 inches which gave me a better spread. The back will always have a little less light than that, but I'm ok with that, hopefully it will reduce the amount of coraline that grows on the back wall. I plan to ramp up my lights to max intensity so that I get around 200 par on the sandbed and 250 where I want to start placing some sps. I'll put some lps in the shady areas. I'm glad I bought the sensor, gives me a better feel on where to put corals. Over the next few weeks to a month I'll be slowly ramping up my lights to reach my peak (about 72% for some leds)
FLOW!
So in reading many posts about Cyno many people suggest increasing flow to reduce deadspots and it should prevent the cyno from forming. ... Well I'm going to have to call a little BS on that one. I put in a total of 4 powerheads so it was pretty darn close to a toilet bowl and the darn cyno still appeared.... It even appeared on the outflow of the powerheads! Well anyway, I wanted to place a birdsnest frag a little higher up for more light. I picked a good spot, however the flow was too high. So i tried turning down the extra powerheads I purchased. Still no good... changed their direction to deflect them... flow changed for the birdsnest, but caused a storm over the hammer corals. Tried to change the direction of the other powerheads... after back and forth and causing my hammers shrivel for the night I figured out the right flow. I need to pull out those extra powerheads. At least I have extras right?
Anyway, that's been my week in reefing. Below I thought I would show some corals that I've gotten over the past few months. There's a few frags in there for my ever expanding frag boneyard... I'll figure it out eventually right?
OP
OP
littlebeard
Active Member
It's been awhile, I figured I would give an update. Not too much has changed within my tank, I was not able to keep the birdsnest. For whatever reason it got a bit more brown and slowly disapeared. Water parameters seemed to be perfect. I've resolved to do water changes every 2 weeks now instead of every month in hopes that will help. I was playing with my par meter so maybe changing the light a bit caused it to stress out ? Phosphates bottomed out for a bit too, maybe that?
I also decided to double down on the coral and bought a bunch more. Most seem to be doing well except 2. The toxic gonipora that I bought is not doing well and slowly receding. A monti cap that I bought also seems to be whiting up.
I think I may have moved it up too high in my lights, so it has been moved back to the sandbed.
I'm a little sad about the monti cap. I've always been drawn to them and while many say they're easy I haven't been able to keep a frag yet. They're a must have coral for me, I'm just drawn to the plating effect.
I bought 2 new gonipora and while 1 fades the other one is doing absolutely fantastic.
I do think however that one of those 2 goni's are spewing out a fair amount of toxic slime. I moved a frag that a crab knocked over and soon after I pulled my arm out and dried it off i felt the pain... like a bunch of pins stuck in it... ugh. I bought a pair of gloves to deal with this, however I don't like wearing gloves and I am debating on re-homing the goni's.
I also am trying some new coral food. After hearing a lot about reef roids I decided to try it out. The day after I added some to my tank an acan that was hovering near death since I dosed chemiclean seemed to perk up. After a few more feedings it now seems to be inflating during the day which is great news! I really do think these reef roids have saved that acan.
As far as my nutrient problem, I do believe I've gotten a better handle on it. Nitrates seem to be sustained by feeding but the phosphates will bottom out unless I dose. I need to dose somewhere between 2.5 to 5 ml of neophos a day. After I bottomed out my phosphates again, I'm back to testing every 3 days for nutrients.
I'm also starting to see some hair algae on the back wall of the tank since I have nutrients now. I bought a blue eyed tang to help with this. He seems to be doing well in QT.
I also decided to double down on the coral and bought a bunch more. Most seem to be doing well except 2. The toxic gonipora that I bought is not doing well and slowly receding. A monti cap that I bought also seems to be whiting up.
I think I may have moved it up too high in my lights, so it has been moved back to the sandbed.
I'm a little sad about the monti cap. I've always been drawn to them and while many say they're easy I haven't been able to keep a frag yet. They're a must have coral for me, I'm just drawn to the plating effect.
I bought 2 new gonipora and while 1 fades the other one is doing absolutely fantastic.
I do think however that one of those 2 goni's are spewing out a fair amount of toxic slime. I moved a frag that a crab knocked over and soon after I pulled my arm out and dried it off i felt the pain... like a bunch of pins stuck in it... ugh. I bought a pair of gloves to deal with this, however I don't like wearing gloves and I am debating on re-homing the goni's.
I also am trying some new coral food. After hearing a lot about reef roids I decided to try it out. The day after I added some to my tank an acan that was hovering near death since I dosed chemiclean seemed to perk up. After a few more feedings it now seems to be inflating during the day which is great news! I really do think these reef roids have saved that acan.
As far as my nutrient problem, I do believe I've gotten a better handle on it. Nitrates seem to be sustained by feeding but the phosphates will bottom out unless I dose. I need to dose somewhere between 2.5 to 5 ml of neophos a day. After I bottomed out my phosphates again, I'm back to testing every 3 days for nutrients.
I'm also starting to see some hair algae on the back wall of the tank since I have nutrients now. I bought a blue eyed tang to help with this. He seems to be doing well in QT.
OP
OP
littlebeard
Active Member
So It's been a LONG time since I've posted in my build thread. It's been about a year since my battle with dino's ended and I restarted the coral growing process. I'd like to say I won that battle, but in reality they killed every coral and vanished.
So roughly 1 year ago I started corals again. I've had some successes and some failures, but overall the last year has been a success. I think I might post yearly as sometimes it feels like the corals grow so slow, until you sit down and look back at the year.
Enjoy!
April 2022
April 2023
1 year growth BC highlighter
1 year growth Tyree Pink Lemonaid
Favites of some sort - 1 year
8 Months blue Stylo
1 year Orange digi and some other acro
So roughly 1 year ago I started corals again. I've had some successes and some failures, but overall the last year has been a success. I think I might post yearly as sometimes it feels like the corals grow so slow, until you sit down and look back at the year.
Enjoy!
April 2022
April 2023
1 year growth BC highlighter
1 year growth Tyree Pink Lemonaid
Favites of some sort - 1 year
8 Months blue Stylo
1 year Orange digi and some other acro
OP
OP
littlebeard
Active Member
It's been awhile since I've updated this. Things are going fairly well. Corals are going great and I'm running into a problem I never thought I'd run into. My corals are fighting! When you get a little frag you think, oh it'll be awhile till they fight, I'll definitely be able to move them before... Then they encrust... then grow up... then finally when you can't move them they fight!
I've also created a few frags some intentional some not.
Here's a fts.
Acro attacking digi monti.
Favia/Favites fighting:
Few frags I've created:
Just some cool looking photos of my tank.
I've also created a few frags some intentional some not.
Here's a fts.
Acro attacking digi monti.
Favia/Favites fighting:
Few frags I've created:
Just some cool looking photos of my tank.
