Wisco Tank/Build Updates

cwerner · Jun 8, 2021

Well I'm fighting a Dino outbreak right now.

I ordered one of those Algae Scrubbers from AquaticGuyz on Ebay and it's been great. The only problem it's been doing TOO well. My Nitrates and Phosphates are undetectable with my Red Sea and Salifert test kits when I tested after I noticed Dino's started popping up.

That was a week ago and now my whole tank is covered with that gross hairy brown sludge.

I've upped my feeding schedule and started dosing MicroBacter7 every day and reduced my light schedule. I'm contemplating a blackout but my Zoas and Toadstool already seem distressed by being overrun by the sludge and I'm afraid a blackout would add fuel to the fire.

RobB'z Reef · Jun 8, 2021

Z&KFarmsWI said:
Hey all! Hope everyone is doing well & enjoying a break from the extreme cold. Thought I would start a thread for us to share pictures and ideas of our current or future tanks & builds. This could be a simple update of your tanks status or plans for your next build. Always cool to see how everyone is doing with their tanks or dreams of tanks. Don’t forget to follow our hashtag for updates and important news. #608Reefers

Great idea btw, good way to get to know all the fellow Wisconsin Reefers out there!

Jon's Reef · Jun 8, 2021

Do you have a UV? Are you running the scrubber 24/7 or only at night?

I recently found my nitrate bottomed out. Did a thorough sand siphoning and started dosing NeoNitro. Worked well so far.

cwerner · Jun 8, 2021

Jon's Reef said:
Do you have a UV? Are you running the scrubber 24/7 or only at night?

I recently found my nitrate bottomed out. Did a thorough sand siphoning and started dosing NeoNitro. Worked well so far.

I don't have a UV, I've considered getting one though. I have the scrubber on a 16 hour on 8 hour off schedule. I'm going to be reducing that to 12-12 to see how it goes from there.

RobB'z Reef · Jun 8, 2021

cwerner said:
Well I'm fighting a Dino outbreak right now.

I ordered one of those Algae Scrubbers from AquaticGuyz on Ebay and it's been great. The only problem it's been doing TOO well. My Nitrates and Phosphates are undetectable with my Red Sea and Salifert test kits when I tested after I noticed Dino's started popping up.

That was a week ago and now my whole tank is covered with that gross hairy brown sludge.

I've upped my feeding schedule and started dosing MicroBacter7 every day and reduced my light schedule. I'm contemplating a blackout but my Zoas and Toadstool already seem distressed by being overrun by the sludge and I'm afraid a blackout would add fuel to the fire.

I just went thru this as well (cyano tho) and tried a lot of similar things you mentioned. Dropped my lights to super low, mb7 and cut out dosing of anything like aminos and phyto etc except I started dosing H2O2 during that 5 day black out period. Early morning and evening. Really neat it back well.

JayRozzer · Jun 8, 2021

I’ve been struggling with a similar issue. I think our tanks with everything we put into them do too good of a job at removing beneficial nutrients.

Ive also been dosing nitrates daily as well as reef roids every other day and have noticed an improvement. I wouldn’t dose MB7 before getting your nitrates/phosphates up.

cwerner · Jun 9, 2021

Good to hear I'm not the only one. My plan is to reduce my light schedule to 12-12 on my scrubber and up my feeding schedule and start dosing some reef roids more often

JayRozzer · Jun 9, 2021

I also just ordered a mixnmatch crew from IPSF to help with some biodiversity. Not sure how I'm going to quarantine sand and microfauna or even if I will but thats TBD. I started with dry rock and my tank is lacking some of the beneficial organisms found on live rock.

cwerner · Jun 9, 2021

JayRozzer said:
I also just ordered a mixnmatch crew from IPSF to help with some biodiversity. Not sure how I'm going to quarantine sand and microfauna or even if I will but thats TBD. I started with dry rock and my tank is lacking some of the beneficial organisms found on live rock.

That's where I'm at too. When I was researching a tank most people said dry rock was fine, which it probably is as long as you take certain steps to account for it. I started with Dry Rock and Live sand thinking that that would be enough biodiversity. It also doesn't help that there's not really a fish store around that still sells Live Rock.

JayRozzer · Jun 9, 2021

Supposedly Aquatics’s Unlimited goes down to Florida and snags live rock from the ocean (from KP or another live rock farm) and brings it back to WI. I might look into snagging a small rock the next time they make that trip.

cwerner · Jun 22, 2021

I couldn't help myself and ordered a Frag Pack and a sexy looking Favia from Tidal Gardens for fathers day for myself. The frags came on what looks like 3d printed plugs, which is pretty cool.

RobB'z Reef · Jun 22, 2021

cwerner said:
I couldn't help myself and ordered a Frag Pack and a sexy looking Favia from Tidal Gardens for fathers day for myself. The frags came on what looks like 3d printed plugs, which is pretty cool.

Nice... Is that a purple digitata in the back there? I just bought a pile of crap from that flash sale they had last night in an effort to stock up my tank.

Viperdragon · Jun 22, 2021

Got this orange spotted blenny on saterday and right now he is so cool. I forgot how interesting some fish can be.

cwerner · Jun 22, 2021

Rob.bucek said:
Nice... Is that a purple digitata in the back there? I just bought a pile of crap from that flash sale they had last night in an effort to stock up my tank.

The box says purple stylophora.

For those interested I got a:

- Birds of Paradise
- Yellow Birdsnest
- Purple Stylophora
- Green Stylophora
- Flame Boi Favia

I ordered the Favia separately because it was really dang sexy.

cwerner · Jun 22, 2021

Viperdragon said:
Got this orange spotted blenny on saterday and right now he is so cool. I forgot how interesting some fish can be.

I have one of those in my tank. He just now after about 8 months decided to dig himself a cave. He's a cool guy.

cwerner · Jul 1, 2021

Well my reefing activity of the week was installing a dual DI resin cartridge kit on my Liquagen 150 GPD system. I was tired of changing the tiny cartridge it came with.

CK00020 · Jul 1, 2021

Thinking about getting a uv, I have a 120 and a 40 b sump should I go with the 40 or 55 watt lifegard?

RobB'z Reef · Jul 1, 2021

CK00020 said:
Thinking about getting a uv, I have a 120 and a 40 b sump should I go with the 40 or 55 watt lifegard?

If money isn't a factor, is more watts more killing power? Certainly going bigger might show you more flexibility in flow? Just spit balling here

CK00020 · Jul 1, 2021

Actually right now the 55 is cheaper, thanks for the input

Jon's Reef · Jul 2, 2021

55 W lifegard is rated at 3200 GPH for 30k dose. 30k is rating for algae and bacteria. For fish diseases (Protozoa) the suggestion is 90k-180k. That would be 500-1000 GPH.
I went with the AquaUV 57 W. It is compact in size and the same body as the 25W model. If 57 ends up being too much, I can always buy a 25W bulb and transformer to convert it.