Smite's UNS 120s peninsula

[Smite]

Also, cut your macro reactor time in half until your start to get a reading on phosphates. Or take it offline for a little while.

Yeah thats where i was torn. Turn if off or keep it half lit and the bryposis has that much less competition. I'm probably going to end up dosing the flux

 

[esther]

Hey there @Smite, I was randomly reading about bryopsis and I came across this website and it says that raising Mg to 1600 helps eradicate it. Have you tried that?

Bryopsis | Melev's Reef

A nuisance for sure, Bryopsis is a weed that has frustrated many hobbyists. Eradicating this type of algae is difficult because it anchors itself well to the rockwork. Very coarse in nature, this plant attracts any type of detritus which it then uses to create its own nutrient base substrate...

www.melevsreef.com

 

[Smite]

Hey there @Smite, I was randomly reading about bryopsis and I came across this website and it says that raising Mg to 1600 helps eradicate it. Have you tried that?

Bryopsis | Melev's Reef

A nuisance for sure, Bryopsis is a weed that has frustrated many hobbyists. Eradicating this type of algae is difficult because it anchors itself well to the rockwork. Very coarse in nature, this plant attracts any type of detritus which it then uses to create its own nutrient base substrate...

www.melevsreef.com

I tried that successfully with Kent techM back before they changed the formula and didn't think it worked anymore. I'll check out the link and see, thanks!

 

[Smite]

Ah yeah it states specifically kent techM. I want to say people have reported that it doesn't work anymore, which sucks because it worked very well for me in the past.

 

[esther]

Ah yeah it states specifically kent techM. I want to say people have reported that it doesn't work anymore, which sucks because it worked very well for me in the past.

Bummer.

 

[Smite]

Excuse the live concert sound, haha. When the girls have a movie night dad does a water change and shoots crap videos

I did a 20% water change after my second interceptor treatment. Polyps are out. This video also shows the new flow I'm going to be trying out for the next couple months. I was struggling to get strong flow on the last 1/4 of the tank. I couldn't go above 75% on reefcrest without sloshing over the sides. I've changed to 80% long pulse (25 seconds) with the opposing mp40 on anti-sync. Long pulse was the answer to getting movement at the end of the tank. The anti sync let me crank up the flow without opposing flow that created the spillage! I ran it on 100% with no spillage but it also moved unglued rock (like that lime green palm sized encrusted acro) across the tank. 80% and the fish don't look stress but I'm getting pretty good movement.

This video also shows exactly how bad my bryopsis problem has gotten. Whatever roots this stuff they need to bottle for rogaine.
click 1080p for HD

 

[Smite]

Oh yeah, the white stuff flying everywhere is some kinda bio-film I get after shutting off the return. Not sure why I get that, I've never had the issue before in previous systems.

 

[minus9]

Looks good! Corals seem happy, which is always nice to see.

 

[BranchingHammer]

I get the weird white chunks after shutting off my return as well. I have no idea what they are. Tank looks great!! Keep it up.

 

[Smite]

Thanks guys,

@minus9

I'm reading through that flux thread and it seems like some see a spike in alk. I'm thinking the sps tolerate the medication but probably temporarily stunts them, did you notice anything like htat? I'm just trying to figure out why some have issues and others dont. That seemed like it could be something people over-look and its enough to trigger an event.

 

[minus9]

Thanks guys,

@minus9

I'm reading through that flux thread and it seems like some see a spike in alk. I'm thinking the sps tolerate the medication but probably temporarily stunts them, did you notice anything like htat? I'm just trying to figure out why some have issues and others dont. That seemed like it could be something people over-look and its enough to trigger an event.

I honestly don't remember? I used it in my 22g, so it's been a while. My guess would be what you mentioned, that the nutrients are temporarily unavailable to the corals and they can't utilize the building blocks and kinda shut down a little, which would account for the rise in alk. I don't remember anything responding negatively to the meds, but I probably tested daily to make sure nothing started to rise or fall drastically/rapidly.

 

[Smite]

I honestly don't remember? I used it in my 22g, so it's been a while. My guess would be what you mentioned, that the nutrients are temporarily unavailable to the corals and they can't utilize the building blocks and kinda shut down a little, which would account for the rise in alk. I don't remember anything responding negatively to the meds, but I probably tested daily to make sure nothing started to rise or fall drastically/rapidly.

I'll do the same. I'll probably dose today, then at the end of treatment do my last red bug interceptor round. Then I'll be back on track.

Thanks!

 

[minus9]

I'll do the same. I'll probably dose today, then at the end of treatment do my last red bug interceptor round. Then I'll be back on track.

Thanks!

Sounds like a plan. Just monitor alk, N & P during and after treatment and you should be fine.

 

[Smite]

I got my parts in from GEO. Everything fit perfectly and I'm now trying to dial in my CARX/kamoer combo, OH yeah!

I've been super stressed on my ph being very low from pulling my skimmer offline for the reef flux treatment. I waited to get the skimmer back on line to hook up the reactor. My co2 scrubber media came in today as well. I hooked it up early today with a BRS media reactor I had from my last tank, drawing outside air due to my "battle" with low ph.
It topped out at 8.03 today ( lower than yesterday by a full .1) That stressed me out bad since I hooked up the calcium reactor yesterday at 8.14 and it bottomed at 7.7 ph this am. This led me to believe I could be way low around 7.6 or less come tomorrow morning.

It just didn't make sense to me, and with some advice of a friend on possibly a bad probe, I called around to LFS and Age Of Aquariums (great shop if you're local to the long beach, ca area. Match online prices ect for years. If you're local drop in and support them) had a Neptune lab grade probe. Well after floating and calibrating this probe....my ph is 8.2, 1 hour after lights out. The probe I replaced was from my 180g, I had ordered a new one due to RTN and STN events at night. At the time it immediately showed I was .1-.15 low (roughly) on my ph and I attributed my losses to low ph and a bad existing probe at that time. I've been battling it every since. Looking back, that probe was bunk out of the box. I should have questioned it for sure but I was looking for an answer i guess.

It's a huge relief to see my ph is actually in-line. I do plan to continue running my co2 scrubber since its all set up now, I'll probably just set a command to shut off my skimmer if ph reaches 8.4+ and use it to maintain a higher ph. If it hits 8.4 it'll be during the day and hopefully just provide a little extra nutrients for the sticks.


Another good note, my sps seem unaffected by the ReefFlux HD treatment. I figure if something horrible was going to happen it would have been in the first 3 days with no skimmer, carbon or uv. Today was day 4 and I'm starting to see die off and translucent tips on both the heavily matted bryopsis areas and the few gha patches I had.

 

[Smite]

Man found salt creep on my floor near the tank. Traced it back to my external overflow. I placed a rag back there today near the leaks and it soaking wet already so It’s pretty bad. I need to order some gaskets but the bummer with this md overflow is the bulkhead is built into the weir itself so hopefully nothing is wrong with the threads themselves or I’ll probably need to build my own. I’m hoping the bow in the external box itself is caused by my hard plumbing being slightly off and not just from the small amount of water in there.
Major bummer. I experienced this on my modular marine and had to drain and fix it. This will be my last external overflow that’s not glassed/siliconed in.

 

[minus9]

Man, that sucks! I put gaskets on both sides of the glass for my synergy overflow. I'm not sure if that's how it was supposed to be, but it seemed like it needed it on both sides. Hopefully you can find a fix soon?

 

[Smite]

Man, that sucks! I put gaskets on both sides of the glass for my synergy overflow. I'm not sure if that's how it was supposed to be, but it seemed like it needed it on both sides. Hopefully you can find a fix soon?

99% sure I just got it fixed. I wouldn't have been able to sleep once I saw how much salt creep was near all my electrical.

So the MD external overflow is very low budget, $99. I'm not sure I understand their thought process on it but the mistake was mine. I placed the set of gaskets they gave inside the tank, like a normal bulkhead would go. It didn't come with instructions so I just went off what I figured would be right. That allowed my external box to leak. The set of gaskets has to go between the tank and the box (instructions are .pdf on marinedepot.com). What eerks me a bit about thier design is they supply a gasket inside the tank, but its on the bulkhead that is built into the weir..... so basically its gasketing against the acrylic box and pressing the acrylic against the inside wall of the tank. So basically a complete waste of a gasket! If this doesn't work I'll be ordering 2 more 1.5" gaskets and adding them between the weir and the inside glass of the tank but so far I dont see any drips.

While I had the weir out I cut out the teeth and lowered my water level by 1/2". now I'll be able to do a standard screen top lid recessed into the tank and crank my flow up to where I really want it.

Glad its done and fingers crossed! It'll be nice to have a lower water height too.

 

[Smite]

I think I'm going to take a swing at building my own external overflow at some point. I really liked how my modular marine weir was able to pull out of the bulkheads. Its a great design for cleaning and just less parts being sandwiched between the bulkheads seems like less points for failure.

 

[Smite]

Newest addition has been on my list for years. BC Bubblebath Unicorn. All blue under a filter. I wish I got to see this reefers tank in person, this thing had amazing color right out of the dip.

FlyCrazy tenuis is starting to show hints of coloring up.

 

[minus9]

Nice! Glad you got it sorted. I want to buy the modular marine overflow for my nuvo black 25 when I set it up. I don't think I would ever use anything less than a bean animal style overflow for any size tank, but I'll be sure to order extra gaskets just in case. That bubblebath is awesome! Adam has some of the best sps out there. Your confetti frag is growing and starting to encrust, so it will be ready for you whenever you're ready.