Vols Reef 260 Gallon Build

[thedon986]

Still working on the algae, it looks like brown carpet on the sand, but I have been doing coral snow with MB7 and it seems to be receding, but still have some work to do.

Corals on the other hand are not doing great and I have no idea why. Torch isnt looking great, and my duncans still dont open up at all. My Nem did split in two the other day so that is good.

Parameters as of yesterday.

Alk - 7.7ish
Nitrates 12
Phos - .03
Mag - 1350
Cal 380

Dosing RedSea Mag, Alk and Calcium so I am upping those doses a bit to slowly bring cal and alk up.

Phosphate at .03 could very well actually be zero, even with the Hanna tester. Could be part of your issues.

 

[Bozburn]

Phosphate at .03 could very well actually be zero, even with the Hanna tester. Could be part of your issues.

Have been working on bringing it up, was .09 when I tested over the weekend.

Currently dealing with black ich in the tank and my two remaining tangs will unlikely make it through the night.

Might be calling it quits after this. Have spent more time being frustrated with the tank or dealing with issues than actually enjoying the tank.

 

[thedon986]

Hang in there. I fought dinos and also lost fish in my last setup. Tore it down disgusted and now I’m back and happy I am.

 

[Wrassenaround]

This is from the first of last month, don’t have anything more recent.

The only store I really know or go to is aquatic critter, but I have never gotten anything outside of dry goods from there.

I gotcha, I've been there several times. I also go to a newer place called music city aquatics and occasionally a place called 7 seas. 7 seas just moved so I don't know what their inventory looks like but they used to always have some awesome pieces of coral

I wouldn't throw in the towel yet. I setup my 91 gallon tank in May of last year and struggled really bad up until about March / April of this year. Corals dying, algae blooms, struggling to keep fish alive, you name it. I kept thinking to myself was this really worth everything I have put into it for it to look the way it does now? I'm glad I stuck it out because now my tank is thriving. I added 6 fish a few months a go including a Tang and I only lost one goby. Since then they have all fattened up and doing well.

Late fall of last year I bought 6 acro frags from Top Shelf Aquatics in Orlando and they immediately lost their color and 5 ended up dying off. Now I have more frags that I got this summer that are doing great.

Do you find that your water chemistry is stable? I also have an Apex and Trident along with the DOS and since I really dialed mine in I've seen a lot of improvement in my coral.

 

[Bozburn]

I gotcha, I've been there several times. I also go to a newer place called music city aquatics and occasionally a place called 7 seas. 7 seas just moved so I don't know what their inventory looks like but they used to always have some awesome pieces of coral

I wouldn't throw in the towel yet. I setup my 91 gallon tank in May of last year and struggled really bad up until about March / April of this year. Corals dying, algae blooms, struggling to keep fish alive, you name it. I kept thinking to myself was this really worth everything I have put into it for it to look the way it does now? I'm glad I stuck it out because now my tank is thriving. I added 6 fish a few months a go including a Tang and I only lost one goby. Since then they have all fattened up and doing well.

Late fall of last year I bought 6 acro frags from Top Shelf Aquatics in Orlando and they immediately lost their color and 5 ended up dying off. Now I have more frags that I got this summer that are doing great.

Do you find that your water chemistry is stable? I also have an Apex and Trident along with the DOS and since I really dialed mine in I've seen a lot of improvement in my coral.

I appreciate it but I think I have had enough.

Ich wiped out my entire tank shortly after I got it up and running, left it empty for 60-90 days or something like that and now have some parasite or something going through and slowly killing fish and I cant figure out what to do about it. Then when I started stocking the tank again I couldnt keep any sps alive and that drove me crazy, realized I needed more bacteria and a more mature tank so took a deep breath and was going to wait it out. Then this past month or two ive been battling dinos/cyano and cant seem to win that fight and now the fish are dying, which I am a huge animal person and hate losing anything. Funny thing is that the 3 sps I got 3 weeks ago are now doing great.

Also the fish that is thriving in my tank is a copperband, which I think is funny since they can be hard to keep.

Wife and I talked about it a lot last night and ive got a bunch of stressful life events happening right now so that could be a factor, but I have spent wayyyy more time being frustrated or fixing something than I have actually enjoying the tank.

Have a full neptune system, red sea dosing and all that jazz so the chemistry is fairly stable.

 

[Wrassenaround]

I appreciate it but I think I have had enough.

Ich wiped out my entire tank shortly after I got it up and running, left it empty for 60-90 days or something like that and now have some parasite or something going through and slowly killing fish and I cant figure out what to do about it. Then when I started stocking the tank again I couldnt keep any sps alive and that drove me crazy, realized I needed more bacteria and a more mature tank so took a deep breath and was going to wait it out. Then this past month or two ive been battling dinos/cyano and cant seem to win that fight and now the fish are dying, which I am a huge animal person and hate losing anything. Funny thing is that the 3 sps I got 3 weeks ago are now doing great.

Also the fish that is thriving in my tank is a copperband, which I think is funny since they can be hard to keep.

Wife and I talked about it a lot last night and ive got a bunch of stressful life events happening right now so that could be a factor, but I have spent wayyyy more time being frustrated or fixing something than I have actually enjoying the tank.

Have a full neptune system, red sea dosing and all that jazz so the chemistry is fairly stable.

I see, definitely frustrating thats for sure. I hope everything works out, in the event it doesn't I may be interested in some of your equipment since I'm not to far from Nashville.

 

[Stevorino]

I appreciate it but I think I have had enough.

Ich wiped out my entire tank shortly after I got it up and running, left it empty for 60-90 days or something like that and now have some parasite or something going through and slowly killing fish and I cant figure out what to do about it. Then when I started stocking the tank again I couldnt keep any sps alive and that drove me crazy, realized I needed more bacteria and a more mature tank so took a deep breath and was going to wait it out. Then this past month or two ive been battling dinos/cyano and cant seem to win that fight and now the fish are dying, which I am a huge animal person and hate losing anything. Funny thing is that the 3 sps I got 3 weeks ago are now doing great.

Also the fish that is thriving in my tank is a copperband, which I think is funny since they can be hard to keep.

Wife and I talked about it a lot last night and ive got a bunch of stressful life events happening right now so that could be a factor, but I have spent wayyyy more time being frustrated or fixing something than I have actually enjoying the tank.

Have a full neptune system, red sea dosing and all that jazz so the chemistry is fairly stable.

Dude that is the worst.. I absolutely feel for you

If you are contemplating breaking it down, please consider a soft reset.

Turn down the lights to borderline moon-light level. Fish will be fine, and maybe even like it. Forget about the remaining corals.

I've had at least a few times over the years that I almost broke my tank down out of frustration and I am so glad I didn't....... But I have definitely taken breaks.

Dropping the lights will also drop the demands of the tank, giving all the good **** in your tank a nice headstart when you want to re-engage.

Go Vols! **** Florida!

 

[Bozburn]

Dude that is the worst.. I absolutely feel for you

If you are contemplating breaking it down, please consider a soft reset.

Turn down the lights to borderline moon-light level. Fish will be fine, and maybe even like it. Forget about the remaining corals.

I've had at least a few times over the years that I almost broke my tank down out of frustration and I am so glad I didn't....... But I have definitely taken breaks.

Dropping the lights will also drop the demands of the tank, giving all the good **** in your tank a nice headstart when you want to re-engage.

Go Vols! **** Florida!

I’m on the fence about it right now. I think if my Copperband makes it then I’ll stick with it. He is awesome, just been a rough year with the tank. Wish I started with live rock and that would have helped with some of it.

Love it, go Vols!