Orion

? it’s just alk, calcium, and occasionally mag when the tank needs it. I swear!

it literally all started growing like weeds around November. Some of this needs to be trimmed back!!

Okay then!

Photo updates! Fish are all healthy, and corals are growing nicely.

Well it happened again. ich. I QT all my fish prior to going into the display, but not the corals (they just get dipped). I noticed 3 weeks ago the anthias acting strange. Hiding and not eating.. eventually dying. Then about a week ago I saw spots all over the tang, and various fish scratching/flashing. So all fish are in QT tanks being treated while the display remains fallow for 76 days for a second time in this tank’s history. So frustrating.

FTS from tonight. Corals and fish growing nicely, parameters are finally stable.

I didn’t see this reply until now.. Yes.. dosing is spread out... so far alk and calcium are doing fine on a lower dose two weeks after removing those sand tablets. Keeping the sand in the tank... I don’t think the wrasse would be happy if I removed it all

Over that past two months I had been having difficulty maintaining calcium and alkalinity. I was dosing almost 200ml of both each day and could not figure out why I was having to dose so much. I think I figured it out, and it was not a low magnesium issue (mag is 1400+ verified by two different test kits). Keep in mind this is a small system.. with maybe 7-10 frags of SPS/LPS. I noticed last week my sand clumping together. I stopped dosing for 24hrs, and left the lights off during this time. Alkalinity dropped fast - over 2dkh in the first 12 hours from 8.68dkh to 6.5dkh. Alk stabilized over the last 12 hours and hung around 6-6.5dkh. I then pulled out several “tiles” of clumped sand over the weekend. I was unable to break them apart. My guess is alkalinity and calcium were precipitating and forming these clumps of sand. I performed a major water change afterwards to balance out the levels, and began dosing again.. but only 40ml each of calcium and alkalinity. This would equate to a 1dkh drop per day. So far the corals look good, and levels are stable. Alkalinity is still on the low side, but I’ll work on that over time.

Set my Avast auto feeder up yesterday, and I have to say this is the best auto feeder I have ever owned. Food actually stays suspended in the water column for fish to eat it vs. floating on top. The only suggestion I have for @ctenophore is to mention somewhere in the instructions that the water pump can be dialed up or down as needed. I was getting a lot of micro bubbles in the tank until I found out that I could turn the pump down.

Thank you all for your responses.. I’ll continue to do more research and maybe perhaps snag one on Black Friday.

It looks like while I was on a 6 year break from the hobby a neat piece of equipment was created.. the filter roller. I am interested in installing one of these and wanted to know everyones opinion on them. likes... dislikes etc.. changing out filter socks isn’t fun!

It does work, but like wildcrazyjoker said it can bottom out your nutrients.

Welcome back.. I just got my feet wet again myself getting back into the hobby after being out for 5 years. The Bulkreefsupply videos are probably the most informative that I have found. Good luck!

Blue Ribbon Koi has frozen food.

Got my hands on the club par meter this weekend and took some par readings. I was surprised at how much PAR and even coverage the T5s were providing Aquatic life t5 fixture w/3 blue plus and 1 actinic 2 radion xr15 G5’s set at 60% intensity ab+ schedule

Nice to get a numeric value for sure, but I’ll stick with salifert for now.

Hi there.. Tank (57 rimless w/20gal sump) is almost 5 months old. Has no corals in it, and just one small BTA. I use Reef Crystals for salt mix. It continuously tests above 10.0dkh after 24hrs of mixing. My tank after a 10-15% weekly water change tests around 8.1dkh, and declines every day after. It’s been 4 days since I last did a water change and alkalinity is currently now at 7.56dkh (I tested twice to be sure). What is causing the alkalinity to precipitate? I did dose two bottles of Coralline Algae (Pink & Purple) in a bottle by ARC Reef a month ago. I don’t see any growth yet.. could this be causing the alk to decline? Fish: Melanurus wrasse chestnut blenny lightning maroon clown tomini tang Current parameters: temp 78 Salinity 1.026 pH 8.1-8.3 (Apex) Alk 7.56 (Hanna) Calcium 500 (Red Sea) Mag 1400 (Red Sea) Nitrate 5ppm (Salifert) Phosphate 0.04 (Hanna)

Hi Matt! Considering Paul B’s aquarium is over 45 years old I wouldn’t worry about the tank itself. Unless of course you are seeing signs of the silicone deteriorating..? Is the stand starting to show any kind of deterioration? If not I think you are in good shape. As for the heaters eventually the internal thermostat inside them breaks and they default ON. They may have already... you wouldn’t know it because your apex is turning power off to those outlets that control those heaters. This happened to me when I tried to use an old heater that was hooked up to an apex previously on a new tank.

Sad to see this one go, but looking forward to the next one!

I am definitely interested in this.. I have a rimless aquarium with a net for a top. Any ideas on how to make it work so I can have both the net and the auto feeder attached to the tank?

oh no what happened to your setup?

3 month update: taking things really slow...(but it’s working) Tank has been up and running now for 3 months... lights have been only running at 4% intensity during this time to keep nuisance algae at bay. Going to start increasing that intensity to get ready for corals. Will use the group’s PAR meter and take measurements before adding any. 2 new utilitarian fish were added to the tank last month out of QT: a chestnut blenny, and a melanurus wrasse. Next up... algae. It’s coming. A cleanup crew has been ordered. A Maintenance dose of Vibrant every 2 weeks was started. Current fish.. Lightning maroon clown melanurus wrasse Chestnut blenny fish in QT: tomini tang

Trim is complete around the tank, and lights have been hung. This turned out really well. Went with a aquatic life t5 and 2 radion xr15s for lights.

When you are quarantined at home things can move rather quickly! Yes it’s the 57. Also helps to have all the original equipment on hand ? (except for lights).