Ryan's 150g Marineland Deep Dimension!

[Ryan S]

Test Results Today, 6/4/2012:

Salinity = 1.025 (good)

pH = 8.23 (good)

Nitrate = 0.0 ppm (good)

Phosphate = 0.01 ppm (good)

Alk = 9.07 dhK (good)

Cal = 400 ppm (good)

Magnesium = 1410 ppm (high)*

 

Last Test Results, 5/8/2012:

Salinity = 1.026 (good)

pH = 8.22 (good)

Nitrate = 0.0 ppm (good)

Phosphate = 0.12 ppm (high)

Alk = 7.84 dhK (low)

Cal = 380 ppm (low)

Magnesium = 1185 ppm (low)

 

*Currently raising MAG to 1800 to kill bryopsis.

 

Everything is finally in the good range and looks stabilized. All corals look healthy, including SPS. Cyano is gone and coralline algae is popping up on the rocks. Once the bryopsis is gone, the tank will be a great place. The first 2 fish to go in will be August 3, after a 12 week fallow period.

Edited June 4, 2012 by Ryan S

[bcoop78]

Awesome!!

[Incredible Corals]

Congrats thats awesome! When I first setup my tank I had bryopsis on the rocks as well. However, after I added the CUC and some fish it all went away within a few weeks. My mag was low too, 1100ppm. I'm a big fan of those tiny hermits. You can easily add 50-75 of those and the eat up everything. They also are small enough they don't knock over all your frags and other corals.

[Ryan S]

Congrats thats awesome! When I first setup my tank I had bryopsis on the rocks as well. However, after I added the CUC and some fish it all went away within a few weeks. My mag was low too, 1100ppm. I'm a big fan of those tiny hermits. You can easily add 50-75 of those and the eat up everything. They also are small enough they don't knock over all your frags and other corals.

 

I can't tell if it's getting better yet. The MAG is up to 1500 and it's still everywhere. I can't add fish until August 3rd, but maybe they'd help, especially something like a tang. Something to think about.

 

On another note, the current fish list plan is what Travis would call boring and common (and it probably is) - (2 clowns, a tang, a wrasse, some anthias, a cardinal, etc). But, I was wondering what a reef safe wrasse tank would be like (if it would work). I could literally add 1 of each of these. That's 32 fish in theory. Buy a truck ton of frozen mysis and toss that in everyday... What do you guys think of a tank like this? It could be unique/cool? Boring? Here are some of my favorites:

 

[Jim]

Leopards are my favorite fish, but they are difficult to get on prepared food. Be prepared to give them a lot of attention or to kill a bunch of them. Reef Nutrition Arctipods were a big help.

[Ryan S]

The MAG is now at 1860 ppm. I can see the bryopsis thinning out and turning white. How long should I hold these levels for it to all die off and not come back?

[Jan]

Yikes, Ryan! That's about 200 ppm's too high. Are your corals bleaching yet? Are your inverts alive still?

 

The MAG is now at 1860 ppm. I can see the bryopsis thinning out and turning white. How long should I hold these levels for it to all die off and not come back?

[Ryan S]

Everything looks normal. I was going to let it come down on it's own over X amount of time. I just didn't know what X was. 1 week, 2 weeks, 2 months, etc?

 

Should I do a 10% water change to drop it towards 1700? I read online that 1700-1800 was the sweet spot.

[icecool2]

Yikes, your mag is way too high. High mag levels actually act to anesthetize inverts. You shouldn't change it by more than 50 per day if memory serves. This may have already been said, but raising your mag to kill hair algae only seems to work if you use Kent Tech-M.

[Ryan S]

Alright, I found the link I needed, the answer is 2 weeks. I will do a small, 5g water change this afternoon, to help drop the MAG down a bit from 1860 towards 1800. I will leave it at 1800 for 2 weeks then do a normal 10% water change. This should rid the tank of all bryopsis. I guess time will tell!

[Ryan S]

Question: I am currently dosing Vinegar; running a Carbon reactor; a GFO reactor; and adding a chaeto box to the system soon. I'm also interested in running biopellets. The goal is to have my nitrates and phosphates at 0 with crystal clear water. Should I run them all at lower amounts/doses; or should I remove some of these and just go with 1 or 2 of them? Which works the best, or which combination is the best?

[BowieReefer84]

Question: I am currently dosing Vinegar; running a Carbon reactor; a GFO reactor; and adding a chaeto box to the system soon. I'm also interested in running biopellets. The goal is to have my nitrates and phosphates at 0 with crystal clear water. Should I run them all at lower amounts/doses; or should I remove some of these and just go with 1 or 2 of them? Which works the best, or which combination is the best?

 

 

Do NOT run pellets and dose vinegar. Choose one or the other. I would stick with vinegar. You don't need to spend money on equipment to dose vinegar, and since it is more manual you will have more control over it imo.

Edited June 18, 2012 by BowieReefer84

[surf&turf]

I think the vinegar and GFO should get you were you want to be. You don't want N03/P04 to actually be 0.

[BowieReefer84]

I think the vinegar and GFO should get you were you want to be. You don't want N03/P04 to actually be 0.

 

+1

[Ryan S]

Alright. And you both think I should stick with vinegar AND GFO? Not just vinegar? Chaeto will also do the same thing right? (If I was going to drop any of the 3, I'd probably prefer to drop GFO since it's the most expensive?)

[Jan]

Add a UV sterilizer for crystal clear water.

[Ryan S]

Add a UV sterilizer for crystal clear water.

 

I got one of those already. I'll need to change the bulb at the 6 month mark, which is coming up pretty soon!

[surf&turf]

Alright. And you both think I should stick with vinegar AND GFO? Not just vinegar? Chaeto will also do the same thing right? (If I was going to drop any of the 3, I'd probably prefer to drop GFO since it's the most expensive?)

 

 

The vinegar will get your N03 numbers down, but there will still be some P04 left that the bacteria didn't consume.

 

The GFO will help to get those numbers lower.

 

If you are going to add all those fish, I don't think you'll be able to get away from GFO.

[Ryan S]

Awesome. Thanks for the reply.

[Ryan S]

Another question: Could I have more than 1 yellow tang in my tank? IE: 3 or 5 (all added at the same time)? (A school of yellow tangs instead of a school of anthias). Or is my tank too small?

[BowieReefer84]

Another question: Could I have more than 1 yellow tang in my tank?

 

REALLY RYAN?!?!?!?

[Ryan S]

REALLY RYAN?!?!?!?

 

It IS a 150 gallon tank... It's not like it's a 55g tank or something. 3 small yellow tangs would be fine if added at the same time... wouldn't they?

[surf&turf]

Yes, you could do a group of yellow tangs.

 

If you want the system to run without GFO, I would stay away from alot of large fish.

[Ryan S]

I don't mind running the tank with GFO (especially if I can have a bigger bio-load by using it). I have the MR5 reactor running it already. I just didn't want to be wasting money on it, if the GFO didn't do anything that the vinegar didn't already do on its own, that's all.

[Ryan S]

Time to work on my SPS shopping list!

 

Red

ORA Red Planet

Red Montipora

Strawberry Shortcake [Der ABT]

 

Orange

Orange Montipora Setosa

 

Yellow

Pink Lemonade [Der ABT]

 

Green

Green Pocillopora

Acro Simplex

Toxic Green Tort [gws3]

Shaggy Green Mille [gws3]

ATL Shades of Fall [Der ABT]

 

Blue

Oregon Blue Tort [gws3]

ORA Ice Tort [gws3]

Deep Blue Tort [gws3]

Metallic Blue Mille [gws3]

ORA Borealis [gws3]

Palmers Blue Mille [sportzfish]

 

Purple

Purple Bonsai/Tricolor

Tyree Idaho Grape Monti

Tulip Mille [gws3]

Lavendar Mille [gws3]

Superman Mille [Der ABT]

Tyree Purple Monster [copps]

 

Pink

Pink Acro [gws3]

Pink Stylo