GraffitiSpotCorals

I need to move my two tanks to VA oaks in gainesville, hopefully this weekend. If you can give me a hand let me know. I have a truck already, i just need help lifting. I need to move a 150dd 3' cube and a 3' by 2' tank. I only need one person. There isn't any stairs or anything and I have a cart to roll them around if it's easier. Pm me if you want to help. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Eric, exactly what sps corals are dying? How are they dying, rtn, stn, base up, tips first, peeling from unlight areas or light areas first? A picture of the dying areas would help. Have you introduced any new sps that died after you added them to the tank? Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Are you sure you didn't buy camel shrimp by accident?

Well bubble algae invaded to many corals so I cut everything affected up and moved everything upstairs. I have a couple of my best conies going up there today to finish. Then I am selling off most of all the fish in the tank. I will break down everything downstairs and finish the flooring and kitchen. Finally! After than I will put up a display tank that is easier to maintain and try and avoid introducing any pest algaes. We have had the same rocks and such for 10+ years so I am looking forward to starting over.

Final build... Ha! We all say that don't we? Just playing, it I am looking forward to hearing about what your planning.

Yea I have definitely​ seen a coral or two die randomly when the tank is going well. But having all of one certain type of coral die off isn't really a cycle, although I understand what the point is and it could be a good conversation. There is almost always a reason if all of someone's sps dies off and it's not really a natural cycle of the system. Paul what has happened to the small creatures in your tank during all of these changes? Do certain ones step up in greater numbers when one of the cycles happen? If so what have you noticed?

I don't think sps normally grow for a few years then naturally die off. Normally something is not kept stable in the water or something changes suddenly and sps will die, but it's not really part of any kind of cycle, at least not in well maintained tanks. There is a lot we don't understand about bacteria and it can cause a lot of bad things to happen, or good for that matter, I wonder how much of this is part of a cycle. Probably more than we think. Carbon and protien skimmers have pretty much stopped any issues of coral warfare, at least through their chemicals and people can keep mixed reefs for very long periods where only coral growth and space is the problem. We have all seen random corals shrink or die but I wouldn't blame it on anything but stress, disease, bacteria or instability. The cycles a tank goes through to mature over years I agree should be left alone or delt with naturally. I always see cycles of flatworms, sponges, certain pods and a lot of other life in the tank. That's what interests me the most. The small cycles of the life we don't see in the tank unless we look hard or get a microscope. I bet these cycles have an effect on our coral and tank health as well. I agree a good topic to bring up and talk about, anyone got any input?

Hey Sean, I miss coming by the store for nice acros for a good deal. Only place around that could keep boxes of fresh acros looking good and healthy. Definitely a void left empty, us acro lovers who like to buy from local stores have no where to go now... I still have your 8' shallow tank that was above your big acro tank. I bet you can guess what's in it . Glad you are happy with where your at! Hope you at least get back in the hobby at some point.

All the zeovit stuff on aqua cave is on sale now. But if c ballance is the calcium from zeovit, and doesn't contain anything else but calcium, yes I would look into brs.

I meant silicone not glue.

Mine is glued in. Just put a few dabs under it on the corners so it's easier to pry off later if that's what your worried about.

Wrap the Barb thick in Teflon tape and slide the hose over it with a hose clamp, if you have to keep the hose barb fitting.

Also take in consideration how the plumbing will be under the tank. Three closed loops is a lot of plumbing! With the odd configuration you may have a rats nest under your tank. One loop with a backup pump would be much easier right? Especially with such a small footprint under your tank, is everything going to be under a cabinet? There is a lot to think about and plan ahead for when making a closed loop with more than one pump.

Yea but I don't have any corals in there really. I am preparing it for frags soon, hopefully today. Needs to be cleaned extremely bad, I can't even see into it.

Finally ready to run the big kalk stirrer and just finished making the anti syphon part. I hate using check valves because they always fail and the only way to get kalk at a good saturation with a stirrer is to run your supply feed into the kalk on the bottom. The whole thing is kind of bulky and I could have done it on one inch but the 1.5" pipe makes it even less likely to create a syphon if the auto vent fails in the closed position for some odd reason. If I used 1" all the way up water could rise up to the auto vent easier and kalk water would ruin it. I also made a stirrer bar with 5 bars and a waffle section towards the bottom to really move the kalk around and let me fill it with a lot of kalk. It will stir about a quarter of the chamber. I still have to make a bracket I can glue to the side of the stirrer to hold the riser since it is just a unideal at the bottom, that's why the zip ties are there. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Thanks guys, hopefully I can update soon. I made a big kalk stirrer to take advantage of my evaporation rate. I have always had the best success with kalk and a calcium reactor. I also made a way to run the kalk stirrer, with the fresh water input at the bottom pushing through the kalk, with NO check valve. I hate how they clog up constantly and need attention. I am going to glue it up today and test it out. I am very excited because I can see it working very well. Crazy part is I am keeping my alk at 9 now. I am very surprised I have not had any issues with burnt tips. I am still dosing 50ml of vinegar and 50ml of vodka a day to keep nutrients unreadable on test kits and I have yet to find anyone having success running a bacterial driven system with alk this high and nutrients that low. Only thing that bothers me is I am not sure if things would do better with alk at a lower number like 7 or not. But as long as things are growing and healthy I am going to keep things where they fall and not mess with anything.

The post-it on the main forum page right top column says this was supposed to be on the 26th by the way.

Yea that one needs a lot of light to get it colored. Now that it's aclimated you could start moving it into the light more. They will loose color or brown often after going into an aquarium, especially without really strong light.

Haha how many people are you expecting to come steal your fish??? I like the look of your Disney acro, I wish I could afford one to put under my lights. There are so many nice tenuis out now. I have one or two I am praying start growing out. The best has been encrusting the maricultured base for a long time.

Have you double checked your test kits against something else to make sure they aren't reading wrong? I would definatly do this before making any changes to dosing. Also if magnesium is low like that it can cause trouble when trying to bring up the other two levels.

Yea it's definatly packed, though I am sure a few won't be what I thought and I will have more space at some point. I think it's obvious I definatly love acropora Sigel7 I sent you a pm. I will cut frags at some point soon but not til things are aclimated to the tank well. A lot of the acros i have left that I put in my tank went through a lot of stress getting here and looked very bad when they got here. On another note I just wanted to share a picture of a mat of sponge growing outside on one of the display tanks overflows, in the tank. There is so much sponge in this system it's really fun to watch them process water while they open and close their tubes. This sponge is about 5x3". You can see the amount of particulate in the water column in the picture as well. It's an eyesore even though I know it's a good thing that feeds smaller life forms in the tank. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Here is some front tank shots with the tank fully stocked. Hopefully an update later on will show decent growth. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Feeding well as the cheato is growing better to keep nutrients low is a balance of nutrients which corals like. Low nutrients but high nutrient input and availability. Just because you feed a lot wouldn't lead me to say you have dirty water either, dirty would be high readable nutrients.

I am a plumber and come home with some nasty stuff on my hands that doesn't really come off in one day. Copper, flux, grease, oil, ECT.... I have never seen any issues where I thought my hands introduced something bad. I have came home and put my hand in the tank forgetting I had stuff on it many times. The ones I am scared of is oil and cleaning products.. I have my hands coated in oil some days and go home, wash, and into the tank they go. Not recommending people don't worry about this stuff, but I don't.

They may be able to tie into the existing foundation to support it which would be nice especially if it all tied together. 3' tall tank is going to look amazing! Looking forward to the aquascape.