SeaDweller's Progress Shots

[SeaDweller]

Hopefully this HW is righteous! Looks promising so far.

Some new additions, from @Coral Euphoria :
L: Vivid Pink Passion R: CE Neon Nights

Big R Walt Disney

Vivid Confetti and RR Firecracker

I may just keep these guys on the sandbed. Let's see where they take me in 6 months.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Hopefully this HW is righteous! Looks promising so far.

Some new additions, from @Coral Euphoria :
L: Vivid Pink Passion R: CE Neon Nights

Big R Walt Disney

Vivid Confetti and RR Firecracker

I may just keep these guys on the sandbed. Let's see where they take me in 6 months.

Gorgeous, comrade

 

[Mr Cheezy]

Great looking new additions.

For how long will you keep your new additions on the sandbed?

 

[Brandon McHenry]

My my, how time flies... Here are some quick shots for my 9 month progress. Pics were taken with a Samsung and PolypLab filter, probably could be desaturated a little bit, but there's too much too edit. The colors are close enough to what I see. Smooth sailing at this point. NO3 1.0 PPM, PO4 0.03-0.10 PPM, Alk 7.6 dkh. Dealing with some random patches of cyano. No biggie.

Sorry some may be duplicates I

Simply amazing! Great job!

 

[SeaDweller]

Great looking new additions.

For how long will you keep your new additions on the sandbed?

If they maintain their colors correctly, I’ll leave them there. I have no room on my rocks, but if they start to go funky on me, I’ll move them.

 

[ifarmer]

very nice.
what LED brand and model you using on your tank?
thanks

 

[SeaDweller]

very nice.
what LED brand and model you using on your tank?
thanks

Hey there,
I'm using four Reef breeder Photon V2+ 48s.

 

[flockaveli]

What's the reddish colony on the bottom right?

 

[C. Eymann]

As always, beautiful progress my friend!

 

[SeaDweller]

As always, beautiful progress my friend!

Thanks bud!

 

[SeaDweller]

Well I finally gave in and used Chemiclean for my minor but annoying cyano issue. I was tired of basting my rocks daily and I've used Chemiclean in the past but having a tank chock full of acros is different. I was nervous. But the homies @bubbaque and @Chaswood79 told me to "be a man" (in Russell Peter's voice) and just use it. Well over 24 hours later and nothing skipped a beat. Alk consumption did decrease, so I adjusted my carx as to not cause a spike.

So to date I've used three chemicals/substances to combat issues in my tank: fenbendazole for GSP, KALK paste for palys and now Chemiclean, all successfully.

Here are some shots and you can really see the water's red from the cyano die off.

 

[drawman]

Well I finally gave in and used Chemiclean for my minor but annoying cyano issue. I was tired of basting my rocks daily and I've used Chemiclean in the past but having a tank chock full of acros is different. I was nervous. But the homies @bubbaque and @Chaswood79 told me to "be a man" (in Russell Peter's voice) and just use it. Well over 24 hours later and nothing skipped a beat. Alk consumption did decrease, so I adjusted my carx as to not cause a spike.

So to date I've used three chemicals/substances to combat issues in my tank: fenbendazole for GSP, KALK paste for palys and now Chemiclean, all successfully.

Here are some shots and you can really see the water's red from the cyano die off.

Man that's good to hear. I have a pretty good cyano issue too but have been nervous to use it because of my acros.

 

[SeaDweller]

Man that's good to hear. I have a pretty good cyano issue too but have been nervous to use it because of my acros.

well truth be told, I was nervous too. I told Bubba and Chaswood that if they don't hear from me again it's cuz I woke up and saw bone white skeletons and fainted.

Honestly, just leave the aeration running, skimmer on and you should be good. I've used it before, but super nervous this time. This morning all is good again!

 

[SeaDweller]

What's the reddish colony on the bottom right?

That all big red mess? FF Red Robin stag, classic

 

[justy]

Hi when I saw your thread my first thought was wow! I've read all your thread and i cant believe the growth, colour and health of your corals well done a real achievement. Not sure whether I've missed it apologise if I have, but what is your tanks husbandry and your approach to keeping such a stunning tank?
Many thanks justin

 

[SeaDweller]

Hi when I saw your thread my first thought was wow! I've read all your thread and i cant believe the growth, colour and health of your corals well done a real achievement. Not sure whether I've missed it apologise if I have, but what is your tanks husbandry and your approach to keeping such a stunning tank?
Many thanks justin

Hi justin, thanks for the compliments.

I try to keep my source water as clean as possible, so I like to change out my RODI filters prematurely, every 4 months, and even added a huge chloramine filter as well. In terms of tank health, I've been doing monthly water changes of roughly 20%, and I feed very heavily (I feel) for my tank. I feed a ton of flakes in the AM before work (2-3 heaping pinches), auto feed pellets three times in the day, and then mysis and plankton at night (equivalent of 5-6 cubes). I try to export as heavily as I import, but I'm thinking my NO3 levels may be too low for my tank.
for export I run:

-RO Diablo skimmer, set to run dry (nasty motor oil colored skimmate after 4-5 days), I can tell when the intake is clogged as the performance drops dramatically.
-section of the sump for chaeto
-Rowaphos (PO4 doesn't go over 0.10 ppm)
- a small sulfur denitrator unit (NO3 stays at 1-2 ppm)

recently I've been toying with the idea of removing the denitrator to let the NO3 build up, but I don't know if it'll skyrocket my nutrients since I feed so much. Having the unit allows me to feed the way I do, but until recently I had some cyano issues (cleared with Chemiclean, not bad) despite having low NO3 (@brandon429 , care to explain this to me? it only grew on the rock where there's some light patches of algae, doesn't grow on coralline, and maybe in areas of lower flow).

I'd rather deal with having (minor) algae than dead acros from not feeding my fish, which in turn, helps the tank. I use a CaRx and dose Red Sea Colors program twice a week (10 mls total, probably not much of anything), but am thinking I may need to up water changes to twice a month if cyano reappears. I've bought two more tunze 6105 to add more flow and plan on moving the Gyre to the back wall to help in the areas where i've seen cyano. I have plenty of flow, but I've seen the best growth and colors from the acros that are at the bottom of the tank with less light and flow, TBH.

I feel my tank does well with the heavy import and export (throughput) method.

just for giggles, here is how my tank looked 04/2018, after a crash. I lost all motivation. That’s not film algae on the tank btw, it’s a mix of coralline and hardened yucky algae that wasn’t scraped off for 4-5 months.
My friend thought it would be funny to call me out on IG:

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I wouldn’t take the denitrator off, no reason to when things are going so well! If you had to take it off, maybe you could use a carbon source so nitrates don’t skyrocket. It’s always the jump from low to high or high to low that cause me issues and I would bet taking it off would cause it to go up even if it’s a really small one. How long have you been running it? I didn’t realize you were using one. Great tool that not many use these days. I remember when lots of people were running them and no one kept coral tanks with high nitrates. Times change!

 

[brandon429]

That tank is just wow I don't recall seeing such electric corals and so healthy. I'm going back to re read to see if you have UV on the system and if so, and there's still a light cyano challenge, if that system was mine I would just build spot siphon tube extensions I could work it in the crevices and simply force it out even if you repeat a few months. Twenty gallon water exchanges here and there to keep it at bay, maintain current tank conditions due to coral health

Am hesitant to recommend water dosers above physical direct removal, the corals are too good to risk imo. You've built every ideal ratio, access ability etc possible for such a huge reef. I don't know another way to safely deal with light cyano vs resolve to always remove it until repetition abates it

In my opinion any number of param arrangements promotes cyano, it's well suited to reefs of great or poor water quality. Will grow on natural reefs in great condition, ive seen cyano in person in the caymans in the 90s when reefs were peak great. Kids on the shore were harvesting conchs live on shore which fed on those controlled patches all balanced wonderfully

With the diversity of rock and corals sourced here surely a varied and adapting palette of cyano and a million other microbes rode in

We should guide expressions by raw work until some awesome magic in a bottle can be found we should keep the params that grow these corals as priority. Trying today's fancy pro biotics in a bottle I feel is safe compared to medication. It'll either work or not but trying some competing bacteria like stuff from brightwell or dr Tims waste away or six other kinds isn't harmful.

 

[SeaDweller]

I wouldn’t take the denitrator off, no reason to when things are going so well! If you had to take it off, maybe you could use a carbon source so nitrates don’t skyrocket. It’s always the jump from low to high or high to low that cause me issues and I would bet taking it off would cause it to go up even if it’s a really small one. How long have you been running it? I didn’t realize you were using one. Great tool that not many use these days. I remember when lots of people were running them and no one kept coral tanks with high nitrates. Times change!

Yeah that's why I haven't done it yet: if it aint broken, don't fix it. I'm probably gonna leave it running, and that's what I like about having it, it's not that much sulfur media, but I feed ALOT and the NO3 is so low. It's been running since this reboot, so since february. The original break in was a pain, took 6+ weeks.

That tank is just wow I don't recall seeing such electric corals and so healthy. I'm going back to re read to see if you have UV on the system and if so, and there's still a light cyano challenge, if that system was mine I would just build spot siphon tube extensions I could work it in the crevices and simply force it out even if you repeat a few months. Twenty gallon water exchanges here and there to keep it at bay, maintain current tank conditions due to coral health

Am hesitant to recommend water dosers above physical direct removal, the corals are too good to risk imo. You've built every ideal ratio, access ability etc possible for such a huge reef. I don't know another way to safely deal with light cyano vs resolve to always remove it until repetition abates it

In my opinion any number of param arrangements promotes cyano, it's well suited to reefs of great or poor water quality. Will grow on natural reefs in great condition, ive seen cyano in person in the caymans in the 90s when reefs were peak great. Kids on the shore were harvesting conchs live on shore which fed on those controlled patches all balanced wonderfully

With the diversity of rock and corals sourced here surely a varied and adapting palette of cyano and a million other microbes rode in

We should guide expressions by raw work until some awesome magic in a bottle can be found we should keep the params that grow these corals as priority. Trying today's fancy pro biotics in a bottle I feel is safe compared to medication. It'll either work or not but trying some competing bacteria like stuff from brightwell or dr Tims waste away or six other kinds isn't harmful.

Thanks brandon, I figured if anyone knew about nuisance algae, it'd be you. So despite my efforts keeping my nutrients low, it somehow made a cameo in the tank. I've been dosing MB7 and Dr Tim's eco balance every week, alternating between the two, but you're right, I'll try to maintain it a bit better. Probably would have helped if I used some filter socks/mesh, but those are annoying to me.

 

[justy]

Hi justin, thanks for the compliments.

I try to keep my source water as clean as possible, so I like to change out my RODI filters prematurely, every 4 months, and even added a huge chloramine filter as well. In terms of tank health, I've been doing monthly water changes of roughly 20%, and I feed very heavily (I feel) for my tank. I feed a ton of flakes in the AM before work (2-3 heaping pinches), auto feed pellets three times in the day, and then mysis and plankton at night (equivalent of 5-6 cubes). I try to export as heavily as I import, but I'm thinking my NO3 levels may be too low for my tank.
for export I run:

-RO Diablo skimmer, set to run dry (nasty motor oil colored skimmate after 4-5 days), I can tell when the intake is clogged as the performance drops dramatically.
-section of the sump for chaeto
-Rowaphos (PO4 doesn't go over 0.10 ppm)
- a small sulfur denitrator unit (NO3 stays at 1-2 ppm)

recently I've been toying with the idea of removing the denitrator to let the NO3 build up, but I don't know if it'll skyrocket my nutrients since I feed so much. Having the unit allows me to feed the way I do, but until recently I had some cyano issues (cleared with Chemiclean, not bad) despite having low NO3 (@brandon429 , care to explain this to me? it only grew on the rock where there's some light patches of algae, doesn't grow on coralline, and maybe in areas of lower flow).

I'd rather deal with having (minor) algae than dead acros from not feeding my fish, which in turn, helps the tank. I use a CaRx and dose Red Sea Colors program twice a week (10 mls total, probably not much of anything), but am thinking I may need to up water changes to twice a month if cyano reappears. I've bought two more tunze 6105 to add more flow and plan on moving the Gyre to the back wall to help in the areas where i've seen cyano. I have plenty of flow, but I've seen the best growth and colors from the acros that are at the bottom of the tank with less light and flow, TBH.

I feel my tank does well with the heavy import and export (throughput) method.

just for giggles, here is how my tank looked 04/2018, after a crash. I lost all motivation. That’s not film algae on the tank btw, it’s a mix of coralline and hardened yucky algae that wasn’t scraped off for 4-5 months.
My friend thought it would be funny to call me out on IG:

[

Hi justin, thanks for the compliments.

I try to keep my source water as clean as possible, so I like to change out my RODI filters prematurely, every 4 months, and even added a huge chloramine filter as well. In terms of tank health, I've been doing monthly water changes of roughly 20%, and I feed very heavily (I feel) for my tank. I feed a ton of flakes in the AM before work (2-3 heaping pinches), auto feed pellets three times in the day, and then mysis and plankton at night (equivalent of 5-6 cubes). I try to export as heavily as I import, but I'm thinking my NO3 levels may be too low for my tank.
for export I run:

-RO Diablo skimmer, set to run dry (nasty motor oil colored skimmate after 4-5 days), I can tell when the intake is clogged as the performance drops dramatically.
-section of the sump for chaeto
-Rowaphos (PO4 doesn't go over 0.10 ppm)
- a small sulfur denitrator unit (NO3 stays at 1-2 ppm)

recently I've been toying with the idea of removing the denitrator to let the NO3 build up, but I don't know if it'll skyrocket my nutrients since I feed so much. Having the unit allows me to feed the way I do, but until recently I had some cyano issues (cleared with Chemiclean, not bad) despite having low NO3 (@brandon429 , care to explain this to me? it only grew on the rock where there's some light patches of algae, doesn't grow on coralline, and maybe in areas of lower flow).

I'd rather deal with having (minor) algae than dead acros from not feeding my fish, which in turn, helps the tank. I use a CaRx and dose Red Sea Colors program twice a week (10 mls total, probably not much of anything), but am thinking I may need to up water changes to twice a month if cyano reappears. I've bought two more tunze 6105 to add more flow and plan on moving the Gyre to the back wall to help in the areas where i've seen cyano. I have plenty of flow, but I've seen the best growth and colors from the acros that are at the bottom of the tank with less light and flow, TBH.

I feel my tank does well with the heavy import and export (throughput) method.

just for giggles, here is how my tank looked 04/2018, after a crash. I lost all motivation. That’s not film algae on the tank btw, it’s a mix of coralline and hardened yucky algae that wasn’t scraped off for 4-5 months.
My friend thought it would be funny to call me out on IG:

Thanks for the indepth reply very useful, I think what grabs my attention mostly is the extra care with your RO water and the use of an auto feeder.
Do attribute some of your success to these two things and is it something you have altered as a result of direct observation and improvement? I'm wondering if its 2 areas that I could look at to improve my tank?
Big thanks again keep the shots and info coming.