Saltgator's 240 Build

Saltgator · Jan 4, 2015

Here's a pic of the powerheads. No photo doctoring. I think I might be looking into the iron supplement. Kent or brightwell or something. My micro doesn't grow at all.

Saltgator · Jan 4, 2015

Here's the pic.

skinz78 · Jan 4, 2015

We need some pic's of that Tang!

prsnlty · Jan 4, 2015

Saltgator said:
Here's a pic of the powerheads. No photo doctoring. I think I might be looking into the iron supplement. Kent or brightwell or something. My micro doesn't grow at all.

Oh wow, mine isn't fuzzy like that. And your macro isn't growing? Do you have a test kit for iron? That algae me be using up your phosphates before the macro can. Idk, just a guess....

Yes I want to see the tang too

Saltgator · Jan 4, 2015

Terrible pics of him in the acclimation box but you get a idea while I'm grocery shopping,lol. I'll get better pics tonight.

Saltgator · Jan 4, 2015

prsnlty said:
Oh wow, mine isn't fuzzy like that. And your macro isn't growing? Do you have a test kit for iron? That algae me be using up your phosphates before the macro can. Idk, just a guess....

Yes I want to see the tang too

I'm gonna get a test kit with some iron supplement. My cheato ball is a base ball size and tumbles. No growth. My fern calupera takes 2 weeks to just attach roots to a no flow zone of rocks! Lights are a simple to 6500 and reef radiance fuge par38 led light on for 18 hours. Imo, if I can get the fuge to grow faster, it will out compete the display junk.

prsnlty · Jan 4, 2015

Mine just started growing a few weeks ago. I agree about out competing. What if you added a bunch more cheato to the fuge?

Saltgator · Jan 4, 2015

Terrible pics. He just is too timid atm. But...

prsnlty · Jan 4, 2015

Nice tang though

Body style looks a lot like a kole.

Saltgator · Jan 4, 2015

Fuge matter

joekool · Jan 4, 2015

Jackie nice to see you hunting down the algae issue.

Salt ozone would clear up your water like crazy. I bought an ozotech after talking with Todd for a few months. Absolutely happy I bought one. One of the best choices I made another being an apex. Well and a reeflo pump for return instead of two mag drives.

But anyways.

Salt where do you live I'm in North Port. Sarasota County.

Saltgator · Jan 4, 2015

Joe I'm in Cape coral near fort myers

prsnlty · Jan 4, 2015

Thanks Joe his is different than mine but still I'm curious. Need nitrates and some phosphates, 400-450ppm ca, .1 fe but not too much for macro to grow. If the dt algae is more than the fuge, it will thrive and starve the macro in the fuge. So to me it would make sense to get a bunch of cheato and see if it helps. I think mine is some sort of bripopsys (however it's spelled).

schooleyosis · Jan 5, 2015

Nice looking tang. Hope you get a handle on the algae issue. What are your nitrate and phosphate levels at? Maybe try elevating Magnesium as well to help fight it. Just remember that high MAG will kill off some of your snails as they cannot tolerate the high levels. Just a thought...

Saltgator · Jan 5, 2015

schooleyosis said:
Nice looking tang. Hope you get a handle on the algae issue. What are your nitrate and phosphate levels at? Maybe try elevating Magnesium as well to help fight it. Just remember that high MAG will kill off some of your snails as they cannot tolerate the high levels. Just a thought...

Hey bud, how's the new year treating you and your reef? Looking forward to seeing updates on it.
My nitrates have fallen from 40 to below 20, phosphate is .04
As for mag..... don't beat me but going thru my logs last night, I haven't added mag in..... um..... I can't remember. My cal and alk 2 part is always refilled and taken care of but I guess I sidelined mag without realizing it.
As for snails, all 12, I wouldn't be out much. 1 Mexican turbo, 1 astrea, 10 cerith. Very poor crew on my part. Mostly because the ones I prefer are ones that can't right themselves. That's why I choose cerith this time to try.
I'm considering red sea colors kit to try, ABC and D.
Lmk your thoughts on the mag too

schooleyosis · Jan 5, 2015

Things are getting better on my end. I'll update my thread soon but definitely positive things are now happening again.

I'd measure your mag just to see where it's at. I raised mine to 1500 I think to kill off some nuisance algae I battled early on...

prsnlty · Jan 5, 2015

I'm about to try Kent Tech M for raising mg to 1500 to see if this will fix my issue.

I also do the red sea colors and it has helped my corals. It's a slow process as with everything sw but it is working. My greens had faded to yellow and are now green again. Turns out i had no trace of iron in the tank. Just be sure you get the colors pro test kit too. Dosing too much iron or K can really hurt the system.

Saltgator · Jan 6, 2015

Thanks yall. I'm on the market looking at test kits and possibly a mag increase supplement. Hopefully I can knock this stuff out. Pretty much believe that if I can kick start that 50g remote fuge, nitrates and phosphate along with whatever algae is in the DT will be non existing. This is what I'm hoping.

Saltgator · Jan 13, 2015

Just a tiny update:
My bullet goby has almost covered all 8 feet of the tank, stirring the sand. Looks great but sand particles flowing everywhere. The price of a white sand bed.
My fowleri is still in the fuge. He's getting bolder, realizing I'm the caretaker. Gaining weight every day.
Speaking of the fuge, a local gave me about 1/2 gallon of fern and grape calupera mix. Fuge is starting to look nice.
Managed to get a Jeabo doser. Started calibration last night. So far it's on par.
Vinegar dosing has been 100% manual dosing. Haven't missed a day yet. Ran out of Nitrate tests. Visual test for now. It seems to be starting to combat the issue. Crap on the back wall seems to be getting stringy, so I'd say the vinegar is working with the fuge getting this junk in wraps. The goal in the end is to get the fuge to control 100% of the no3 and po4 without the vinegar.