[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

2 minutes ago, roni said:

Clearly you need to cut back on the steroids you're dosing!

? 

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

[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

3 minutes ago, YHSublime said:

Holy cow, when did this turn into a matured tank!?

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

[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

Okay then!

 

[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

Photo updates!

 

Fish are all healthy, and corals are growing nicely. 

[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

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. 

[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

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

[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

On 10/27/2020 at 5:56 PM, YHSublime said:

That's crazy, are you spreading out the times that they are dosing? Are you just going to go barebottom now? 

 

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

[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

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.

 

[New Avast Marine Auto Feeder]

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.

[Filter Rollers]

Thank you all for your responses..

I’ll continue to do more research and maybe perhaps snag one on Black Friday. 

[Filter Rollers]

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!

[Vibrant. Does it work??]

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

[Diving back after 7yrs - New to WAMAS]

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!

[where can I buy frozen fish food locally? Whose open?]

Blue Ribbon Koi has frozen food. 

[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

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

 

 

[Hanna Nitrate Checker]

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

[What is causing Alkalinity to decline?]

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)

 

 

[How long.........?]

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. 

[Living Room Nano Peninsula]

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

[New Avast Marine Auto Feeder]

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?

[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

1 hour ago, YHSublime said:

Doing it right. I've been cycling my rock for almost 4 months now, but now I have to run fallow for 90 days. All fish are now going through a QT. 

 

oh no what happened to your setup?

[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

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

 

[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

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. 

[Orion's Deep Blue 57 Gallon Rimless]

On 5/6/2020 at 11:26 AM, YHSublime said:

Love it. You went from "I'm thinking about getting back in" to "it's happening, here's my 3 year old reef tank!" lol. What tank is that, is it the 57?

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).